tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37222155138831912032024-03-05T08:45:54.449-08:00RED Book Reviews"RED is the most joyful and dreadful thing in the physical universe; it is the fiercest note, it is the highest light, it is the place where the walls of this world of ours wear thinnest and something beyond burns through. It glows in the blood which sustains and in the fire which destroys us, in the roses of our romance and in the awful cup of our religion. It stands for all passionate happiness, as in faith or in first love." -G. K. ChestertonREDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16036670273788375590noreply@blogger.comBlogger702125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3722215513883191203.post-22245325228526672092021-02-02T19:09:00.002-08:002021-02-03T21:46:31.940-08:00Top Ten (Or So): Books Read in 2020<p>This was a weird year for everybody, and although I had way more free time than usual since COVID affected my job, I read fewer books than I ever have, at only 26.</p><p>I continued what I started last year, reading books that I've owned for ages and never read, and then discarding them if I didn't love them. I was less successful this year than last, though, because of reading fewer books in general, and because it was getting hard to find the audio book versions. Audiobooks are one of the few ways I can focus enough to finish books these days.</p>So without further ado, in sort-of approximate order from <b>least</b> to <b>most</b> favourite, are some of the best books I read in 2020:<br /><br /><u>Runners Up</u><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRPXxbDucIGOX725z6GzJA1xh7ToSDs7-u5Ju47rI5DepqgnjmjUhavO3-HmJPaQh8eUBCDNO5Dv99G6Di0vMgM23xT5WUm-rppwxtLiOSMQpOVLzUolqy8VR4swcwTLdHYbie4o2C7P_c/s500/Martian+Time+Slip.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="306" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRPXxbDucIGOX725z6GzJA1xh7ToSDs7-u5Ju47rI5DepqgnjmjUhavO3-HmJPaQh8eUBCDNO5Dv99G6Di0vMgM23xT5WUm-rppwxtLiOSMQpOVLzUolqy8VR4swcwTLdHYbie4o2C7P_c/s320/Martian+Time+Slip.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The French cover for <i>Martian Time-Slip</i>.<br />I like the atmosphere it gives.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div><span style="text-align: left;">--</span><i style="text-align: left;">Martian Time-Slip</i><span style="text-align: left;"> by Philip K. Dick. I didn't actually love this book that much, but the character's descent into uncertainty about reality was well done and quite evocative. It was also quite atmospheric, which I enjoyed. Normally I wouldn't add a book that I didn't really like, but the fact that the feelings from this book stayed with me, and I managed to remember them, says something, I think.</span></div><div><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizHd-TqTr5voToqXh2xJ_WdhtwXy2NhhaRR07RJws-5FLxePsHlS1zBOGoakDvERd0sLyvpPZRf5uihZRIG53tkGUwRvjPN6zAypSfvs8yUjPUN63PEW9MFyAlvDicjNKZtVr116zjo36E/s1199/Gabor.jpeg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1199" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizHd-TqTr5voToqXh2xJ_WdhtwXy2NhhaRR07RJws-5FLxePsHlS1zBOGoakDvERd0sLyvpPZRf5uihZRIG53tkGUwRvjPN6zAypSfvs8yUjPUN63PEW9MFyAlvDicjNKZtVr116zjo36E/w200-h150/Gabor.jpeg" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The man himself, Gabor Maté. I feel extra<br />proud of him because he lives in Vancouver, <br />Canada, close to me.</td></tr></tbody></table>--<i>When the Body Says No</i> by Gabor Maté. Some really fascinating ideas in this book, but I really don't know how accurate they are, or scientific. Health and human biology is not my area. I suspect science will discover more and more how much our mind and body are connected, but I have no idea if it's quite so connected. It did make me want to make sure I was as mentally strong and healthy as I could be, though. Rather inspiring.</div><div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>--<i>What Makes Love Last?</i> by John M. Gottman. Really useful information here about how to keep a relationship healthy and alive. I wish it was more well known. It seemed, however, like much of it was not too applicable for my relationship, which is why it's not higher on the list.</div><div><br /></div><div>--<i>The Richest Man in Babylon</i> by George S. Clason. I'd love to get this book for my kids one day. I feel like it would be a great book to learn about money as a teenager. I enjoyed it myself, but didn't learn a lot, since I've read quite a few financial books now.<br /><br /><u>Third Place: The Books That Gave Me Encouragement</u><br /><br />--<i>Notes on a Nervous Planet</i> by Matt Haig. This was such a cozy, little book to read. The subject matter wasn't <i>always</i> pleasant, since it talks about his anxiety a lot. But sometimes slightly sad things can be super cozy, too. I also loved the cover and page design. I definitely want to read the other book by him, <i>Reasons to Stay Alive</i>.<br /><br />--<i>You Are a Badass at Making Money</i> by Jen Sincero. This book is definitely not for everybody, due to the slightly "woo" elements. But it gave me actual ideas and gave me the energy to start trying them, which is pretty huge for me.<br /><br /><u>Second Place: The Books That Gave Me Awesome Things to Try</u><br /><br />--<i>The Prosperous Heart</i> by Julia Cameron. I really love books with exercises in them, and these exercises were really fun. I'm not sure if it actually directly made me feel or be more prosperous, though. Well, in the short term maybe, but Corona happened soon after, and it did <i>not</i> help things in that department. I do really want to do her more famous book now, though, called <i>An Artist's Way</i>. (I've actually tried to start before, but I couldn't manage to keep up the morning pages and artist dates. I think those will be <i>very</i> good for me, even if I don't do the book, though. So hopefully I can manage to start that up before too long.)</div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ_DTNgG7TJ8G5zTxrUzMQxRCuSpl6N5YdtfkeCQgVM6YiC-fxBgIAySIkebGCLQfH3GtNNpM4mbBmSTvFcH1xXrDtssZKaut93BWoYt9Oq7RgS4p0ReuH4cExv1oDLaVPVVGLbXH5OIlW/s2048/image2.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ_DTNgG7TJ8G5zTxrUzMQxRCuSpl6N5YdtfkeCQgVM6YiC-fxBgIAySIkebGCLQfH3GtNNpM4mbBmSTvFcH1xXrDtssZKaut93BWoYt9Oq7RgS4p0ReuH4cExv1oDLaVPVVGLbXH5OIlW/s320/image2.jpeg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of the best recipes from <i>Yum & Yummer</i>.<br />(I made this! And it was so good!)</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>--<i>Yum & Yummer</i> by Greta Podleski. This is one of those cookbooks that I actually read through every recipe, and thus count it as one of the books for the year. (I don't count most cookbooks because I skim through them looking for recipes that appeal to me.) The recipes from this book never astounded me (like some of the recipes from the cookbooks on 2018's list), but almost every single one I tried was really good, pretty cheap, pretty healthy, looked yummy. Every recipe ticked all the boxes, and what more can you ask for in a cookbook?</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb4sls7z-jIYnLpxGPZSx44DQvUuqyMA3FMsZDy7z_MZ8kqAIANdeMBemvnSZLhsw90ROL964xpSRKThdosz9QozEo-aAiPWVEGxM38OtxXvKnq5lerXPl01vSQ-_eyX22rJpFWm0FT-v-/s2048/image1.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb4sls7z-jIYnLpxGPZSx44DQvUuqyMA3FMsZDy7z_MZ8kqAIANdeMBemvnSZLhsw90ROL964xpSRKThdosz9QozEo-aAiPWVEGxM38OtxXvKnq5lerXPl01vSQ-_eyX22rJpFWm0FT-v-/s320/image1.jpeg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another favourite recipe. Doesn't it look spectacular?</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>I'd also like to give a mention here to <i>Cook Once, Eat All Week</i> by Cassy Joy Garcia. I didn't actually read it cover to cover, thus why I haven't included it properly. But it's a fantastic book about meal prep, with some great recipes. It basically changed the way I meal plan, and was a definite plus for my life.</div><div><br /><u>First Place: The Books That Gave Me Awesome Things to Think About</u><br /><u><br /></u>--<i>Rich Dad, Poor Dad</i> by Robert T. Kiyosaki. I've been reading a lot of financial books recently and watching lots of Youtube videos on the topic. They usually all say pretty similar things. Very, very useful things, but once you've read a few, you know the gist. This one was a little different, and managed to give a different perspective. A perspective that it turned out I really needed, for balance. It gave me ideas, too, and actually made me excited about my financial future. I really appreciated this book.</div><div><br /></div><div>--<i>The Big Leap</i> by Gay Hendricks. This book said things that I'd read before, but it said it in such was that I was actually struck by it. It felt like it was a bit life-changing, although now that I write that out, I'm not sure I can think of any specifics... Maybe it's not quite as good as I thought, but I can't deny that I really enjoyed reading it.</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig8Bzo6fIP-vXs-adpmpZo_p9wH7-dI6bm1OTeS7aSK__AmCL-Ziz0CVlbyPZdcyrvSHQJlCLqo6kgYM8aUQL2yFNWlx7GiH26hqD6mf6gxBlRkzlAnXGdVrKLt1-nFqv4QJRbxM4AsrOQ/s1500/Happy+City.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="844" data-original-width="1500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig8Bzo6fIP-vXs-adpmpZo_p9wH7-dI6bm1OTeS7aSK__AmCL-Ziz0CVlbyPZdcyrvSHQJlCLqo6kgYM8aUQL2yFNWlx7GiH26hqD6mf6gxBlRkzlAnXGdVrKLt1-nFqv4QJRbxM4AsrOQ/s320/Happy+City.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A happy city</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>--<i>Happy City</i> by Charles Montgomery. I found this fascinating, and I want the mayors and leaders of all the cities to read it. Our happiness is improvable, and we already know many of the ways to do it. But convincing people is the hard part...</div><div><br /></div><div><u>Honourary First Place: The Series I Didn't Technically Finish</u></div><div><u><br /></u></div><div><b>--</b><i>My Hero Academia</i> by Kohei Horikoshi. Usually I don't include manga series unless I finish them, but who knows how long it will be until this series is finished. And <i>this</i> is the year I fell in love with it. So here it is, as an honourary first. And first it definitely should be, because it's so awesome. I love all the characters so much--it's so rare that a series has this good of an ensemble cast. The world building is such fun, and some of the fight scenes are so brilliant. Plus it has Bakugou, who blasted his way up to one of my favourite characters of all time. (I even got a figurine of him, as embarrassing as that is, and it gives me inspiration to give my all.)</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzfpNn5zI2izdWz2VgKtoWyoNlXvEA_6CyT6MNBpBkJKdfj7TTXQWtlPr0wAsGhbGiL-Ga20hvUuiS78RaNbS5iEL3QxABztEQsxEFQAyWyVdq0lwabP8c0qn_sBG6QoRsnXPURAM8YFei/s548/Bakugou.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="483" data-original-width="548" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzfpNn5zI2izdWz2VgKtoWyoNlXvEA_6CyT6MNBpBkJKdfj7TTXQWtlPr0wAsGhbGiL-Ga20hvUuiS78RaNbS5iEL3QxABztEQsxEFQAyWyVdq0lwabP8c0qn_sBG6QoRsnXPURAM8YFei/s320/Bakugou.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bakugou Katsuki. He wins all the popularity polls for a reason.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div><br />P.S. See also the Top Ten (Or So) lists from previous years: <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2012/12/top-ten-or-so-books-read-in-2012.html" target="_blank">2012</a>, <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2014/01/top-ten-or-so-books-read-in-2013.html">2013</a>, <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2015/01/top-ten-or-so-books-read-in-2014.html" target="_blank">2014</a>, <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/01/top-ten-or-so-books-read-in-2015.html">2015</a>, <a href="https://redbookreviews.blogspot.com/2017/09/top-ten-or-so-books-read-in-2016.html">2016</a>, <a href="https://redbookreviews.blogspot.com/2018/06/top-ten-or-so-books-read-in-2017.html">2017</a>, <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.com/2019/02/top-ten-or-so-books-read-in-2018.html">2018</a>, <a href="https://redbookreviews.blogspot.com/2020/02/top-ten-or-so-books-read-in-2019.html">2019</a>.</div></div>REDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11119540412455106441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3722215513883191203.post-69482825394485081712021-01-04T12:54:00.002-08:002021-01-04T12:54:31.377-08:00Top Ten (Or So): Covers of Books Read in 2020<p>I only have four books on my top covers list this year! <i>Four</i>!! I mean, I <i>could</i> add more, but only four actually appealed to me enough to put on a list. I'm sure the lack of good covers is partly just because I've read less this year than I ever have, at only 26 books.</p><br />Anyway, but here we are, in approximate order from favourite to least favourite, my top ten (or so) of last year:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEko3LnR_149VQY8ngj1zf1tUlcYEEWrDq87fQxufrb__EadOQXHPnhFXAqQp36DzxIJGud74_CgAoZfvky3gwMqWMiOMt52qleOZnlOXSfEqeoDGDkmgzXUObZCIqCwkTUWvsRf1rSVI1/s2048/Institute.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1347" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEko3LnR_149VQY8ngj1zf1tUlcYEEWrDq87fQxufrb__EadOQXHPnhFXAqQp36DzxIJGud74_CgAoZfvky3gwMqWMiOMt52qleOZnlOXSfEqeoDGDkmgzXUObZCIqCwkTUWvsRf1rSVI1/w263-h400/Institute.jpg" width="263" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>I found the cover for <i>The Institute</i> pretty striking, and was a big reason why I read it in the first place. It's so mysterious, and I love the colours. Who is that boy? What's he doing? Will the book be all weird and full of cool mysteries like it looks like?<div><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgRgRLA88rpsb97WeebqCnBFUORaQ6MJhmeB31qXDDoEK9UMY8BrPDQ5MK-q_ofFOaGpWeQey7BIo38FCng_zt63ya4eSrZC2hMiDJ6hPlPGl84x0KgCu6kD632R1CDrCIYC5EH8CexqK9/s2048/Outer+Order+Inner+Calm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1483" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgRgRLA88rpsb97WeebqCnBFUORaQ6MJhmeB31qXDDoEK9UMY8BrPDQ5MK-q_ofFOaGpWeQey7BIo38FCng_zt63ya4eSrZC2hMiDJ6hPlPGl84x0KgCu6kD632R1CDrCIYC5EH8CexqK9/s320/Outer+Order+Inner+Calm.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><i>Outer Order, Inner Calm</i> is minimalist in subject matter and cover, and that happens to be a style I like, especially when blue is featured strongly. The yellow also makes me feel happy, so just just looking at this cover makes me feel like decluttering my house until it feels fresh and clean and happy and calm.<br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFEgyeyr3zuAG8cQNJv94fhbFnZ_EHnIYlBNf_ZoTzjgfje_Wx0BzTtQ3hn8-ZuFdK-utk3ccy-xep1PvIYwT95ZYJzSeEl5R-MydU8vMh48EUmp34jFMc1-Wu0T0Ew5gmKoRlVgP4fuyG/s2048/Martian+Time+Slip.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1362" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFEgyeyr3zuAG8cQNJv94fhbFnZ_EHnIYlBNf_ZoTzjgfje_Wx0BzTtQ3hn8-ZuFdK-utk3ccy-xep1PvIYwT95ZYJzSeEl5R-MydU8vMh48EUmp34jFMc1-Wu0T0Ew5gmKoRlVgP4fuyG/s320/Martian+Time+Slip.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><i>Martian Time-Slip</i> has a pretty minimalist cover, too (although the subject matter of the book is not remotely minimalist). I think the use of light is beautiful, and wouldn't mind having this as a featured picture in my house.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtx8-i-YbBUTc6_9LiXkzL9X-COygleWV3dWvspe0ymOCyAlI6chRCgvvAEijp9BJIB1KuoPAdeXRw-PeiOo6egNOrCEtupMyjUlH3PuMqMtL0n63f2sQff_5H2pcA3rMXQRCp7FPcIlhyphenhyphen/s2048/Notes+on+a+Nervous+Planet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1443" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtx8-i-YbBUTc6_9LiXkzL9X-COygleWV3dWvspe0ymOCyAlI6chRCgvvAEijp9BJIB1KuoPAdeXRw-PeiOo6egNOrCEtupMyjUlH3PuMqMtL0n63f2sQff_5H2pcA3rMXQRCp7FPcIlhyphenhyphen/s320/Notes+on+a+Nervous+Planet.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>As I say every year, I think, the feel and size of a book, combined with the cover, can make a big difference to my reading experience. I'm including <i>Notes on a Nervous Planet</i>, not because the cover itself struck me that much, but because the cover, the paper used, the small cozy size, and the content of the book all worked so well together. It was a lovely and cozy reading this book.<br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>P.S. See also my previous lists: <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2012/12/top-ten-or-so-covers-of-books-read-in.html">2012</a>, <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2013/12/top-ten-or-so-covers-of-books-read-in.html">2013</a>, <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2015/01/top-ten-or-so-covers-of-books-read-in.html" target="_blank">2014</a>, <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/01/top-ten-or-so-covers-of-books-read-in.html">2015</a>, <a href="https://redbookreviews.blogspot.com/2017/09/top-ten-or-so-covers-of-books-read-in.html">2016</a>, <a href="https://redbookreviews.blogspot.com/2018/06/top-ten-or-so-covers-of-books-read-in.html">2017</a>, <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.com/2019/01/top-ten-or-so-covers-of-books-read-in.html">2018</a>, <a href="https://redbookreviews.blogspot.com/2020/01/top-ten-or-so-covers-of-books-read-in.html">2019</a>.</div>REDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11119540412455106441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3722215513883191203.post-65890673760151372752020-02-01T10:59:00.004-08:002020-02-01T11:05:52.597-08:00Top Ten (Or So): Books Read in 2019This was a pretty good year. I decided to go through my many many books that I owned and had never read, and try to read (or listen to) as many as I could. 21 of the 39 books I read this year were in that category. And in the end... it wasn't really worth it. Not in the sense that I'm sorry I decided to do that. But in the sense that almost all of them were not books I loved. (<i>Saint Joan</i>, mentioned below, was the biggest exception.) It really started to hit home that my time on earth is limited, and there's no point reading tons of books I'm not going to love.<br />
<br />
So now, by the beginning of 2020, I've really started to get used to my new taste in books, and slowly realizing I don't have to like the things I used to like. If my thing now is plays and journalism, so be it. All the better.<br />
<br />
So without further ado, in sort-of approximate order from <b>least</b> to <b>most</b> favourite, are some of the best books I read in 2015:<br />
<br />
<u>Runners Up: The Fictional Books</u><br />
<br />
--<i>Behind Her Eyes</i> by Sarah Pinborough. It was good and gripping. I enjoyed the twist quite a lot. Main reason why it's a Runner Up is because some of the drama in the middle of the book was tiring for me.<br />
<br />
--<i>The Warded Man</i> by Peter V. Brett. I don't have too much to say about this one, but I quite enjoyed it. It was one of the few fictional books I was able to get through this year. And definitely the world building was part of that. Some great and interesting things in this book! (Although I kind of suspect that half the reason why I liked this one so much was because I read it during our week of no internet. I've discovered more and more how much my internet use is making it hard to focus these days.)<br />
<br />
<u>Third Place: The Journalistic Books</u><br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg24PSIFEhhot_ReBH8a4zGPyybz_Nnu2z_22QHKNgI1qKgSYPCSocWzpVu8gOgkoRT-HMfBDYh3efl5-u6SqiH8BYI6oB7AGxUWf7IXq3VboUuJ150_tIqoXQMnKQ_alqct1vtcVvrMZB5/s1600/Gladwell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1583" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg24PSIFEhhot_ReBH8a4zGPyybz_Nnu2z_22QHKNgI1qKgSYPCSocWzpVu8gOgkoRT-HMfBDYh3efl5-u6SqiH8BYI6oB7AGxUWf7IXq3VboUuJ150_tIqoXQMnKQ_alqct1vtcVvrMZB5/s200/Gladwell.jpg" width="197" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px; text-align: center;">A cool guy.<br />
(Malcolm Gladwell)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
--<i>The Tipping Point</i> by Malcolm Gladwell. I'm also including the other two books I read by him this year, <i>What the Dog Saw</i> and <i>Talking to Strangers</i>. Gladwell is one of my favourite authors now. Although I didn't enjoy these ones as much as the ones I read by him last year, they were still quite fascinating, and gave me many things to think about.<br />
<br />
--<i>How to Change Your Mind</i> by Michael Pollan. Gave me new things to think about. That's mostly what I ask for in a book these days.<br />
<br />
--<i>10% Happier</i> by Dan Harris. I'd already experienced the importance of meditation before reading this, but this reinforced my beliefs, and gave me inspiration to get back to my meditation practice.<br />
<br />
--<i>QED</i> by Richard Feynman. It actually did help me understand some of quantum dynamics a lot better than before. I've always been fascinated by those mysterious areas of science, and it was great to be just a little clearer about how it works.<br />
<br />
<u>Second Place: Some Random Nonfiction Books</u><br />
<br />
--<i>Thinking, Fast and Slow</i> by Daniel Kahneman. The human brain is fascinating, and we make many assumptions about life and how we think, without actually having any evidence for it.<br />
<br />
--<i>The Mastery of Love</i> by Don Miguel Ruiz. Half of why I loved this book was the experience of reading it: the beautiful feel of the book and pages, the way it felt to hold it. But it was also a lovely, thought-provoking book, for the most part.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHEWR6_t2o6Vi-BbxxTneLEW1kSJiHQSYdLFj-PF8hEGcJ1y_7fKtlvAiR4Y9QjC2mD6MmAC-jToqgv2MUjzJSxy48nfjqViRttdyxMw_3Yp3uDxy04KZwLPmZ2EDSMEuI5Zn1KHaOfet5/s1600/Pinterest+2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="555" data-original-width="1284" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHEWR6_t2o6Vi-BbxxTneLEW1kSJiHQSYdLFj-PF8hEGcJ1y_7fKtlvAiR4Y9QjC2mD6MmAC-jToqgv2MUjzJSxy48nfjqViRttdyxMw_3Yp3uDxy04KZwLPmZ2EDSMEuI5Zn1KHaOfet5/s400/Pinterest+2.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">A sample of my Pinterest board created for one of the exercises in <i>The Curated Closet</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
--<i>The Curated Closet</i> by Anuschka Rees. This book is not exactly objectively amazing, but it really really helped and inspired me, and that's what counts. It helped me think about and enjoy my clothes in way I never had in my life before. And I had so much fun doing the exercises with a friend of mine!<br />
<br />
<u>First Place: The Play</u><br />
<u><br /></u>
--<i>Saint Joan</i> by George Bernard Shaw. Like last year, I liked the play I read better than any other fiction from the year. And this was <i>so</i> good. Joan herself was <i>such</i> an amazing character. From my Catholic upbringing, I was used to thinking of Shaw as a bit of the bad guy--at least in his opinions (not character). He was the one who disagreed with Chesterton on everything, and Chesterton was the <i>best</i>. That feeling that Shaw was somehow suspect stuck with me, unconsciously, but this book got rid of that. He had many very interesting ideas in this book, and made me think a lot.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi93F9o1kVgy694rSkLJJUsy-9ZagnDQBl72gDolU5-cMllrAoK61v_jtrDWovEvbL2e6xzNhiC1CwXAOrEJCv1ILUfjQJe1SOpQT5adY86-Hd63lXCzt7d92wqYZzs0JxQcFYq-sXPjWY8/s1600/Saint+Joan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi93F9o1kVgy694rSkLJJUsy-9ZagnDQBl72gDolU5-cMllrAoK61v_jtrDWovEvbL2e6xzNhiC1CwXAOrEJCv1ILUfjQJe1SOpQT5adY86-Hd63lXCzt7d92wqYZzs0JxQcFYq-sXPjWY8/s320/Saint+Joan.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">The saint herself.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
P.S. See also the Top Ten (Or So) lists from previous years: <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2012/12/top-ten-or-so-books-read-in-2012.html" target="_blank">2012</a>, <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2014/01/top-ten-or-so-books-read-in-2013.html">2013</a>, <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2015/01/top-ten-or-so-books-read-in-2014.html" target="_blank">2014</a>, <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/01/top-ten-or-so-books-read-in-2015.html">2015</a>, <a href="https://redbookreviews.blogspot.com/2017/09/top-ten-or-so-books-read-in-2016.html">2016</a>, <a href="https://redbookreviews.blogspot.com/2018/06/top-ten-or-so-books-read-in-2017.html">2017</a>, and <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.com/2019/02/top-ten-or-so-books-read-in-2018.html">2018</a>.REDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11119540412455106441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3722215513883191203.post-79679684457851953682020-01-28T19:13:00.000-08:002020-01-28T19:13:05.195-08:00Top Ten (Or So): Covers of Books Read in 2019So for the fourth year in a row, I feel like this year was really not great for covers. Maybe it's my fault...? I've somehow lost my appreciation for book covers? Or maybe it's because the kind of book I read now has changed, and that kind of book doesn't tend to have nice covers.<br />
<br />
Who knows. Anyway. There's only two that I would say spoke to me in any way. The rest I chose just because I had to choose more than two, and they were nice enough.<br />
<br />
So in approximate order from favourite to least favourite, my top ten of last year:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC56iDxVhgcUatdV3lvkX0NpNuvXWqCmF2I76lRqV3azMyYSaV-o1Poof2HRjNbm1zCSYhfvxvyHhOzlDqcwel4qquwdRvO5E0jn8R9HLFNmNoGGYEubNnN30xxOgXiPgIEOHpLqb6cMqf/s1600/Emperors+Blades.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="316" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC56iDxVhgcUatdV3lvkX0NpNuvXWqCmF2I76lRqV3azMyYSaV-o1Poof2HRjNbm1zCSYhfvxvyHhOzlDqcwel4qquwdRvO5E0jn8R9HLFNmNoGGYEubNnN30xxOgXiPgIEOHpLqb6cMqf/s640/Emperors+Blades.jpg" width="424" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
The cover for <i>The Emperor's Blades</i> is just beautiful. It gives me a feeling of epicness. And having three such different looking people made me think there could be at least three very awesome characters in it. (I didn't end up enjoying the book as much as I enjoyed the cover, although it was good.)<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsrJ77KVwX6QYzTSVrZ7dDEMTfbtJVtImnCDjqIRh91U3Mvop8f4v5q8Sq8Ar2zAkk7uDiJYyDY1Tia8Wt608IHuVvgPndMJ50y9AkV7DnXs8oVQnR-7riQIM06F5VFR2rrKc-H1G_-DzC/s1600/I%252C+Robot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="318" data-original-width="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsrJ77KVwX6QYzTSVrZ7dDEMTfbtJVtImnCDjqIRh91U3Mvop8f4v5q8Sq8Ar2zAkk7uDiJYyDY1Tia8Wt608IHuVvgPndMJ50y9AkV7DnXs8oVQnR-7riQIM06F5VFR2rrKc-H1G_-DzC/s1600/I%252C+Robot.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<i>I, Robot</i> is the second cover that struck me. It's just so green and computery! I can't explain it much more than that. The version I had was a <i>beautiful</i> hard cover, too. It even <i>felt</i> great.<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJR0tFpPzvJ5VMUE9_MSN2XIOyFiokwHIUzH9SyndDJGQU3uD1Dwzlj6dENOWRL8Xkx8_yLwJyiA3rYA6ilS3y7XjUazGaLYcb1i4WCyjboujMgENpY01L1cEpyH4XSyMnTZjADR-0jaLK/s1600/Goodbye%252C+Things.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="328" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJR0tFpPzvJ5VMUE9_MSN2XIOyFiokwHIUzH9SyndDJGQU3uD1Dwzlj6dENOWRL8Xkx8_yLwJyiA3rYA6ilS3y7XjUazGaLYcb1i4WCyjboujMgENpY01L1cEpyH4XSyMnTZjADR-0jaLK/s320/Goodbye%252C+Things.jpg" width="210" /></a></div>
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The minimalist aesthetic appeals to me a lot. That's all I really need to say for <i>Goodbye, Things</i>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsvmLJxHzy_by630hu6geHBksCQ1Eybb1IxQXydcDO4efJpcX-K5apfEJxbUGWTszrWcgtIJ9RMkG_n4hON9gDcDnkkcEA0q3nW-GxY639J8VtmREpzi32A9INOBV3BBY8j6yT2Trq4yur/s1600/Man%2527s+Search+for+Meaning.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="614" data-original-width="408" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsvmLJxHzy_by630hu6geHBksCQ1Eybb1IxQXydcDO4efJpcX-K5apfEJxbUGWTszrWcgtIJ9RMkG_n4hON9gDcDnkkcEA0q3nW-GxY639J8VtmREpzi32A9INOBV3BBY8j6yT2Trq4yur/s320/Man%2527s+Search+for+Meaning.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
<br />
Gotta give a place to a good, old-fashioned hard cover book, which is exactly what <i>Man's Search for Meaning</i> was. Plus it's blue. I like blue.<br />
<br />
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<br />
I'm not exactly sure why <i>The Mastery of Love</i>'s cover appeals to me, but it does. I think half of it is the feel of the book, actually. The uneven pages, the smallish size of it, the bendy-but-still-firm-ness. Good stuff.<br />
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<i>Major Pettigrew's Last Stand</i> is a bit similar, actually. Half of why I liked it is the feel of the book, although the cover is also noticeable and interesting to me.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6Pyw1aA4l4PudCVOX7legR_x1J7LD6Atv2xPRJZNPQs6I763hFHmcj-9js4xCj_ttnuYRBUvaBHyi1m3eeGUlG-td07cR-_mGiUJr2gtPvZc3ILnz84HRFfhKKNLZO34NsMlYQWtflrtq/s1600/Chronicles+of+Harris+Burdick.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="325" data-original-width="260" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6Pyw1aA4l4PudCVOX7legR_x1J7LD6Atv2xPRJZNPQs6I763hFHmcj-9js4xCj_ttnuYRBUvaBHyi1m3eeGUlG-td07cR-_mGiUJr2gtPvZc3ILnz84HRFfhKKNLZO34NsMlYQWtflrtq/s320/Chronicles+of+Harris+Burdick.jpg" width="256" /></a></div>
<br />
<i>The Chronicles of Harris Burdick</i> has beautiful illustrations inside and out.<br />
<br />
<br />
P.S. See also my previous lists: <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2012/12/top-ten-or-so-covers-of-books-read-in.html">2012</a>, <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2013/12/top-ten-or-so-covers-of-books-read-in.html">2013</a>, <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2015/01/top-ten-or-so-covers-of-books-read-in.html" target="_blank">2014</a>, <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/01/top-ten-or-so-covers-of-books-read-in.html">2015</a>, <a href="https://redbookreviews.blogspot.com/2017/09/top-ten-or-so-covers-of-books-read-in.html">2016</a>, <a href="https://redbookreviews.blogspot.com/2018/06/top-ten-or-so-covers-of-books-read-in.html">2017</a>, <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.com/2019/01/top-ten-or-so-covers-of-books-read-in.html">2018</a>.REDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11119540412455106441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3722215513883191203.post-57145285969482624462019-02-02T14:29:00.001-08:002019-02-02T14:32:49.704-08:00Top Ten (Or So): Books Read in 2018This year I can say my taste has decidedly changed. ALL of the books except one on this list are nonfiction (not including the runners up). This is very new for me. I like it, for now, although I do hope I'll get back one day to the joys of fiction.<br />
<br />
So without further ado, in sort-of approximate order from <b>least</b> to <b>most</b> favourite, are some of the best books I read in 2015:<br />
<br />
<u>Runners Up: The Fictional Books</u><br />
<br />
These three books felt very similar in my brain--they're all thrillers, I really don't know which I liked best, and I forget them all a bit, but they were engaging and readable at a time when I couldn't read much fiction. Also, I started out quite loving all of them, but they got less interesting in the final third of the book. But the first two thirds were good enough that they deserved to be runners up.<br />
<br />
--<i>The Girl on the Train</i> by Paula Hawkins. What exactly was going on? I couldn't wait to find out.<br />
--<i>The Lovely Bones</i> by Alice Sebold. Death is sad, but recovery can be possible with discovery.<br />
--<i>The Lying Game</i> by Ruth Ware. The liiiies. So fascinating.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ7bcQeSte0Va-Xlb3c2-PSWrO0zaP_6l4XvBl8I2jmcyEC3hXr2L6L0Q5YOxmCM7FFBDxrvpSu0yLekBRvlVG8JJ4OOBNPG3l_b0yi4pO7QTztRC-DVOaVUXNgmueFAWdjrqVEsbHvlmW/s1600/The+Girl+on+the+Train.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="768" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ7bcQeSte0Va-Xlb3c2-PSWrO0zaP_6l4XvBl8I2jmcyEC3hXr2L6L0Q5YOxmCM7FFBDxrvpSu0yLekBRvlVG8JJ4OOBNPG3l_b0yi4pO7QTztRC-DVOaVUXNgmueFAWdjrqVEsbHvlmW/s320/The+Girl+on+the+Train.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Girl on the Train. There's a movie! Any good? I don't know. But Emily Blunt is pretty awesome.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<u>Third Place: The Self Help and Recovery Books</u><br />
<u><br /></u>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
--<i>Total Money Makeover</i> by David Ramsey. My finances are actually in decent shape (I'm hoping to be debt free by the end of this year or the middle of next, and I'm not a big spender). But I read this to try to help my family, and it's really great. David Ramsey's style bugs me a bit, but he's right in the essentials. Debt is a nasty thing, and many of us could actually be free of that trap if we worked really, really hard and followed his steps.<br />
<br />
--<i>Master the Day</i> by Alexander Heyne. Honestly, I got more from his Youtube videos than this book, since much of the info from his videos are in this book. But still, he's helped me quite a lot to begin to achieve a better life.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii0w_N0D_xdtab0RnzCNxWoTng28iWXbCvERMQUuY08TKsKyw0saYnp6bAHwP-Z3dPl5WrY-m8SuUSl-nvkO9F8pZ4lDUwMWpgHsFFYeLJXMXHofjNwzWCpFZQqvTPgz-mHDmj6ogltDsN/s1600/Alexander+Heyne.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="605" data-original-width="1024" height="189" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii0w_N0D_xdtab0RnzCNxWoTng28iWXbCvERMQUuY08TKsKyw0saYnp6bAHwP-Z3dPl5WrY-m8SuUSl-nvkO9F8pZ4lDUwMWpgHsFFYeLJXMXHofjNwzWCpFZQqvTPgz-mHDmj6ogltDsN/s320/Alexander+Heyne.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alex Heyne</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
--<i>Come as You Are</i> by Emily Nagoski. Sex! Needs to be talked about! Especially the female experience!<br />
<br />
--<i>The Trauma Myth</i> by Susan A. Clancy. A fascinating book, although probably easily misunderstood, and not for everyone. It turns our view of trauma and abuse on its head (in a sense--it does NOT make it seem good instead of bad, just... different).<br />
I'm also going to give a shout out here to <i>The Obsidian Mirror</i>, by Louise M. Wisechild. It's more of a standard view of abuse, but really good and personal and poetical. (Although, to be honest, I don't remember it very well... That's not necessarily a sign that it's not as good, though.)<br />
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<u>Second Place: The More Fascinating Self Help Book</u><br />
<u><br /></u>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVCCmsSV_l_T22yI-g_7_hL7cgPJ37cb0kWw7EbvBJbwR-LiRleHuhcQqXJZ8PeGsqnlZLhoSGLL0g2YXuhrsJIjYnRWqZv5dZeBaL_0j1dYLf81WkwWM3VuBiJpmbJtYQQWEtZHffvY8u/s1600/Jordan+Peterson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="309" data-original-width="220" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVCCmsSV_l_T22yI-g_7_hL7cgPJ37cb0kWw7EbvBJbwR-LiRleHuhcQqXJZ8PeGsqnlZLhoSGLL0g2YXuhrsJIjYnRWqZv5dZeBaL_0j1dYLf81WkwWM3VuBiJpmbJtYQQWEtZHffvY8u/s200/Jordan+Peterson.jpg" width="141" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The man himself, Jordan Peterson</td></tr>
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--<i>12 Rules for Life</i> by Jordan Peterson. Peterson is famous for his stance on Canadian laws for transgender pronouns, but that's not at all what the majority of people like him for. His view on life and how to live it is really really inspiring for me, and makes me want to be strong and courageous more than almost anything else. He definitely has some flaws, in my opinion, and I disagreed with sections of his book (thus the second place). But I keep going back to him to be inspired to change.<br />
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<u>First Place: The Cookbooks and Journalistic Books</u><br />
<u><br /></u>--<i>The Psychopath Test</i> by Jon Ronson. So entertaining, so interesting, so strange, so real. I've found a new author to devour everything he's written.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkqfOzfKB1g2MLCjf39orNX4BiksrfDoRYV8rblYgIr504IzBS_uCW_kXBGRS0OvxG5N-enPOkuI6Qly8HlLZKfXuR8aMBDCJCtbjzSdEobVW8f1AKBXQ_svGpbmtdbkEnCTiBqg-IDzj9/s1600/image1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkqfOzfKB1g2MLCjf39orNX4BiksrfDoRYV8rblYgIr504IzBS_uCW_kXBGRS0OvxG5N-enPOkuI6Qly8HlLZKfXuR8aMBDCJCtbjzSdEobVW8f1AKBXQ_svGpbmtdbkEnCTiBqg-IDzj9/s320/image1.jpeg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This was made by me!!!</td></tr>
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--<i>British Columbia From Scratch</i> by Denise Marchessault and <i>Eating From the Ground Up</i> by Alana Chernila. Cookbooks! It seems like cheating! But it's not, because I read every single word in these amazing books. The first (BCFS) made me interested in cooking, and the second (EFtGU) made me interested in vegetables. What a feat! My whole friend group is astounded. For both of these books, I've found things that are better than almost anything I've had, <i>definitely</i> than anything I've cooked.<br />
Plus both books are <i>soooo pretty</i>. I flip through them periodically, and it gives me <i>such</i> pleasure. Seeing the beautiful colours, the beautiful food. Imagining how good they will taste, and how <i>fun </i>they will be to try to make. Being so thankful at my increase in skill, and at the whole world being interested in food has opened me up to.<br />
It was hard not to book these as first place, but I felt that <i>would</i> somehow be cheating to put cookbooks in first place.<br />
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--<i>August: Osage County</i> by Tracy Letts. And the one fictional book on this list! And it's not even a novel, but a play! But such a good one. The subtly and reality of those relationships. It was sad, but it was so real. I don't know, I can't praise this in the right way, I'm no English major. You'll just have to trust me--it's good.<br />
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--<i>Outliers</i> by Malcolm Gladwell, as well as <i>David and Goliath</i> and <i>Blink</i>. These books have changed the way I've thought about things from choosing schools to airplane safety. How does he find so much fascinating information? Usually I'm not one for random facts, but he makes them <i>so</i> interesting. These books have given me hours of excellent conversation with my family members, and I've found a new favourite author.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMmWt2Vw2yIw8GKUgl-vhAQbsEU59nUXRgAiOQBtWM1djKAaqdxuqzMyWBysmXq34fEreGu-7J0K91fhOv1lS_ENl3H6LRzQMEG2R4SULLth4bRgtVtA1wi5KVCwHEgF-yYrvFyE4EzOkr/s1600/British+Columbia+From+Scratch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="387" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMmWt2Vw2yIw8GKUgl-vhAQbsEU59nUXRgAiOQBtWM1djKAaqdxuqzMyWBysmXq34fEreGu-7J0K91fhOv1lS_ENl3H6LRzQMEG2R4SULLth4bRgtVtA1wi5KVCwHEgF-yYrvFyE4EzOkr/s400/British+Columbia+From+Scratch.jpg" width="308" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One more picture of this book because it's so freaking beautiful</td></tr>
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P.S. See also the Top Ten (Or So) lists from previous years: <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2012/12/top-ten-or-so-books-read-in-2012.html" target="_blank">2012</a>, <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2014/01/top-ten-or-so-books-read-in-2013.html">2013</a>, <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2015/01/top-ten-or-so-books-read-in-2014.html" target="_blank">2014</a>, <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/01/top-ten-or-so-books-read-in-2015.html">2015</a>, <a href="https://redbookreviews.blogspot.com/2017/09/top-ten-or-so-books-read-in-2016.html">2016</a>, <a href="https://redbookreviews.blogspot.com/2018/06/top-ten-or-so-books-read-in-2017.html">2017</a>.REDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11119540412455106441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3722215513883191203.post-71043192322523580622019-01-12T15:36:00.002-08:002019-01-12T15:36:41.811-08:00Top Ten (Or So): Covers of Books Read in 2018Top-Ten Lists are the best, so I'm continuing these even though the blog is abandoned.<br />
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I wasn't super impressed with the majority of the selection this year, but there were a couple great ones, and a couple pretty nice ones. Could have been worse, I guess. Here they are, in approximate order, <b>favourite to least favourite</b>, the best covers from the books I read in 2018.<u style="font-weight: bold;"></u><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWk4DqKoWWHhsKslqE_Pk4vZnJOs6SdgLL3a7o9W7BfQSVkAc5i-IcteHTUY1kxuey0kFNZJTHyOKcM-sQsDUjiWmNMi5REZDgihZdASuMLvUvPZckuMOvpR6zVv1HmcLk6_0vVi11bEx_/s1600/British+Columbia+From+Scratch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="387" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWk4DqKoWWHhsKslqE_Pk4vZnJOs6SdgLL3a7o9W7BfQSVkAc5i-IcteHTUY1kxuey0kFNZJTHyOKcM-sQsDUjiWmNMi5REZDgihZdASuMLvUvPZckuMOvpR6zVv1HmcLk6_0vVi11bEx_/s400/British+Columbia+From+Scratch.jpg" width="308" /></a></div>
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Now that I'm into cooking, I've realized that I pretty much love all the covers from modern-style cookbooks. But <i>British Columbia from Scratch</i> one beats them all. This is the book that basically gave me my fascination with cooking. I saw it from a distance in a ferry gift shop and it called to me. The inside pictures are JUST as breath taking. I've tried a number of recipes now, and it turns out to live up to its promise. How much more perfect can you get?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1-jYV-9RK60KQa4kby9iYerQWQtT9z0vNaNXH55GgNhf3YyrYD7lYy_vaoGh8iAc0zKw-1adxwi4FKyGV2UaGkro8PCwWz9LQIaOeERJxEucl7BhdJDN8N6TUIQuG6P795IrGuhg9IopI/s1600/Eating+from+the+Ground+Up.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1171" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1-jYV-9RK60KQa4kby9iYerQWQtT9z0vNaNXH55GgNhf3YyrYD7lYy_vaoGh8iAc0zKw-1adxwi4FKyGV2UaGkro8PCwWz9LQIaOeERJxEucl7BhdJDN8N6TUIQuG6P795IrGuhg9IopI/s400/Eating+from+the+Ground+Up.jpg" width="292" /></a></div>
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And basically tied for first (only <i>slightly</i> behind) is the cover for <i>Eating from the Ground Up</i>. It was partly the cover and pictures in this book that made me think I could find ways to cook vegetables that I <i>actually liked</i>. And it turns out, I was right. Vegetables and be tasty and gorgeous and healthy all at once.</div>
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<i>Simple Matters</i>. I love the look of Minimalism. What can I say?</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDU3CYtqZQeTXlmquxFsNhhGw8_NGWVqjM19l-xWmLQYL7W47c6sXjFDIqjdDYNOmwsL0AojQZ9Iuv59nWVSG0eIGvPL5gySHQU1xHgd9_i-SI_Mese2nuoe4d4D5DfAIWRajlO-hrNCho/s1600/The+Sleep+Revolution.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="265" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDU3CYtqZQeTXlmquxFsNhhGw8_NGWVqjM19l-xWmLQYL7W47c6sXjFDIqjdDYNOmwsL0AojQZ9Iuv59nWVSG0eIGvPL5gySHQU1xHgd9_i-SI_Mese2nuoe4d4D5DfAIWRajlO-hrNCho/s320/The+Sleep+Revolution.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
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I'm normally not a fan of real people on the covers of books, especially when the person is the author of the book. But this <i>The Sleep Revolution</i> struck me, somehow. Maybe it's the sort of Minimalist look (which, as I've said before, <i>really</i> appeals to me)? Maybe it's the blue and white colour scheme?</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ4_MYkgCKDN863_tMbA5vcqJ7m1nOU7Qzj-O6mYiFbKvAFA7BoH2cAeBQITjSZ2YfeSJgWv4A7JUBYoDdO0ZhYpx8osP-w2Xm9yJJZRxe4I7O50OlcyUNccZQmLK6dW2J6CWMKRtdovXK/s1600/Three+Dark+Crowns.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="406" data-original-width="269" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ4_MYkgCKDN863_tMbA5vcqJ7m1nOU7Qzj-O6mYiFbKvAFA7BoH2cAeBQITjSZ2YfeSJgWv4A7JUBYoDdO0ZhYpx8osP-w2Xm9yJJZRxe4I7O50OlcyUNccZQmLK6dW2J6CWMKRtdovXK/s320/Three+Dark+Crowns.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
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I've kind of come off of my interest in Young Adult scifi/fantasy these days, and <i>Three Dark Crowns</i> itself didn't appeal to me much. But the cover was <i>gorgeous</i>.<br />
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<i>The Lovely Bones</i>. Simple, gradient blue. I like it.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLVKnro7-jLAlASnCEMkplMNVwe7OLl69wCGrKQlEdeGe3gChS1VDZ1oae5aed0r0z7yfY9wAZEj4dvEwOSZ3hVqZApbRlKUxGG39cDmQWbGQhaqq7qEhp1714CQ-HMmDU0mAeaO-bDaFj/s1600/The+Dip.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="724" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLVKnro7-jLAlASnCEMkplMNVwe7OLl69wCGrKQlEdeGe3gChS1VDZ1oae5aed0r0z7yfY9wAZEj4dvEwOSZ3hVqZApbRlKUxGG39cDmQWbGQhaqq7qEhp1714CQ-HMmDU0mAeaO-bDaFj/s320/The+Dip.jpg" width="226" /></a></div>
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I wasn't going to add the cover for <i>The Dip</i> (it would make a good runner up). But I found the image stuck in my mind, and kept coming up when I was thinking about progress and sticking with things. That's powerful enough that I feel like it deserves a spot.<br />
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And no runners up this year. There were a couple nice-ish ones, but these were the only ones I really liked enough.<br />
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P.S. See also my previous lists: <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2012/12/top-ten-or-so-covers-of-books-read-in.html">2012</a>, <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2013/12/top-ten-or-so-covers-of-books-read-in.html">2013</a>, <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2015/01/top-ten-or-so-covers-of-books-read-in.html" target="_blank">2014</a>, <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/01/top-ten-or-so-covers-of-books-read-in.html">2015</a>, <a href="https://redbookreviews.blogspot.com/2017/09/top-ten-or-so-covers-of-books-read-in.html">2016</a>, <a href="https://redbookreviews.blogspot.com/2018/06/top-ten-or-so-covers-of-books-read-in.html">2017</a>.REDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11119540412455106441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3722215513883191203.post-23854337308753050692018-06-25T09:44:00.002-07:002018-06-25T09:44:34.926-07:00Top Ten (Or So): Books Read in 2017This was a small year for books. Only 33! That's the least amount of books I've read in a year since I started keeping track, and possibly since I learned to read. Of course, I had a good excuse (getting engaged!!!), but it's made making a list like this a little more difficult. Fortunately, there were a couple of amazing ones.<br />
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So without further ado, in sort-of approximate order from <b>least</b> to <b>most</b> favourite, are some of the best books I read in 2015:<br />
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<u>Section Three--these were great, I loved these ones: the "all the good ones" section:</u><br />
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--<i>Assassin's Apprentice</i> by Robin Hobb. This is first on the list because I forget almost all the details and only remember that I enjoyed it a lot. One of my favourites in the "Yeah, it was great!" category.<br />
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--<i>A Darkling Sea</i> by James L. Cambias. I remember this one much better, and I remember being confused at the end, and not being <i>quite</i> as impressed as I'd hoped to be based on reviews. Nonetheless, it made me think, it entertained me, it remained memorable, and I'd recommend it to scifi lovers, even picky ones.<br />
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--<i>Surprised by Joy</i> by C. S. Lewis. I'm surprised this one didn't end up being higher up the list, since it's Lewis. But, wonder of wonders, I've discovered I've outgrown Lewis just a <i>little</i>. I still loved it (thus it's on this list). Especially when he talks about Joy itself. Lewis gets Joy in a way few people do, and I've always longed for it.<br />
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<u>Section Two--these are just <i>so good</i>: the section with my <i>actual</i> favourites of the year:</u><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb7AXJbsu3ls-BbNJpUhqyP-LT_e_iaHU2BE5kTXa3lXFwnm2LzIZUKaFD1f39blvu4qlSPwgFKOsJrEEBEAqERb0C8YTexvsRbLOs279PJxHWJo51pxffr9VPzxphqNGOKpB-dJIWC2_S/s1600/Happiness+Project.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1125" data-original-width="750" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb7AXJbsu3ls-BbNJpUhqyP-LT_e_iaHU2BE5kTXa3lXFwnm2LzIZUKaFD1f39blvu4qlSPwgFKOsJrEEBEAqERb0C8YTexvsRbLOs279PJxHWJo51pxffr9VPzxphqNGOKpB-dJIWC2_S/s200/Happiness+Project.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>
--<i>The Happiness Project</i> by Gretchen Rubin. This came at a good time in my life. So many good ideas to increase happiness, plus the central idea that you have to <i>work</i> for it. Being joyful is a choice, in many ways, and one you can actively pursue.<br />
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--<i>The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up</i> by Marie Kondo. This <i>almost</i> went in Section One, for all-time favourites. So, so close. In fact, one of the only reasons why it isn't there is because I didn't want Section Two to be too small. Because this one is <i>great</i>. So inspiring. Such good ideas. Such an amazing end goal, that I want <i>so much</i>. Yeah, she can be a bit weird sometimes and I don't always agree with her. But when does that not happen? With some caveats: Read this if you want to change your life.<br />
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<u>Section One--life-changing, ground-breaking, or astonishing: the new additions to my all-time favourites</u><br />
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--<i>The Omnivore's Dilemma</i> by Michael Pollan. Changed the way I thought about food, and made me interested in it for the first time in my life. Now cooking, gardening, farming, hunting, gathering, society's relationship to all those, are all in my areas of keen interest. It was so great, and so entertaining and interesting. Plus the cover is gorgeous, so that always helps.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigxz2-CbXwKhl2gB8CP7KtIzkcploTw0Wu5iu6-Jq611q3kRR722qEYDMXEUAop9Cu9NN4nmYOfDkMR91haeJtco388Ljl39DxXcFEhpxwrpgoMuyd6mEnCXtfThBLr7d-B3EW0YugPJxe/s1600/Michael+Pollan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="397" data-original-width="600" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigxz2-CbXwKhl2gB8CP7KtIzkcploTw0Wu5iu6-Jq611q3kRR722qEYDMXEUAop9Cu9NN4nmYOfDkMR91haeJtco388Ljl39DxXcFEhpxwrpgoMuyd6mEnCXtfThBLr7d-B3EW0YugPJxe/s320/Michael+Pollan.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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--<i>The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August</i> by Claire North. This is MY kind of book. This is it. Any attempt to explain it is going to get at the wrong sort of idea.<br />
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--<i>The Celebration of Discipline</i> by Richard J. Foster. This changed my life. Part of that is definitely because it came at just the right time, when I was longing for something to teach me about the little disciplines to make my life better. Part of that is probably because it comes from a different perspective than I'm used to. I'm Catholic, and though this book doesn't go against Church teachings at <i>all</i> (except maybe in a couple obvious places (like the part on Confession)), there's still some new ideas for me. Ideas that I think could be very useful for Catholics to internalize. One of the most striking for me was the idea of practical prayer. Don't want to get into it too much, but this is one of the best and most inspiring practical guides to living a Christian life I've found.<br />
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<u><b>Runners Up (In No Order Whatsoever and Possibly Missing Some Good Ones Because I'm Really, Really Bad at Making Up My Mind)</b></u><br />
--<i>The Sunbird</i> by Elizabeth E. Wein. Some great, great characters in this slim book.<br />
--<i>What If?</i> by Randall Munroe. So funny. So informative.<br />
--<i>Little Sins Mean a Lot</i> by Elizabeth Scalia. So great at making me want to be better!<br />
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P.S. See also the Top Ten (Or So) lists from previous years: <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2012/12/top-ten-or-so-books-read-in-2012.html" target="_blank">2012</a>, <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2014/01/top-ten-or-so-books-read-in-2013.html">2013</a>, <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2015/01/top-ten-or-so-books-read-in-2014.html" target="_blank">2014</a>, <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/01/top-ten-or-so-books-read-in-2015.html">2015</a>, <a href="https://redbookreviews.blogspot.com/2017/09/top-ten-or-so-books-read-in-2016.html">2016</a>.REDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11119540412455106441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3722215513883191203.post-68381990887980116852018-06-25T08:46:00.000-07:002018-06-25T08:46:12.912-07:00Top Ten (Or So): Covers of Books Read in 2017I don't have the time and energy to keep up this blog anymore. But the Top-Ten Lists are just <i>so</i> fun to do, that I can still manage to find what I need to do two of these per year. Here goes the first one.<br />
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Here they are--in only approximate order--<b>favourite to least favourite</b>, the best covers of the books I read in 2017. There are fewer than ten because this was another disappointing year for book covers. Maybe because I read so few books last year? Anyway, whatever. Here goes. The first two are a tie because I loved them both so much.<br />
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I don't know what it is about <i>Jackaby</i>. Partly the colour scheme--I love blue, and then there's that little, striking bit of red. Partly it's the look of the character on the front. Partly it's the interesting way the scene is shown inside his profile. Partly it's the reference to Sherlock Holmes and Buffy on the quote on the front.<br />
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<i>The Omnivore's Dilemma</i> has what I've come to learn is a not uncommon style of cover for food books. But at the time, I found it striking, and I still do. I love the experience of reading a book that looks like this. Just looking at that food on the cover, standing out in the stark, black background, makes me want to be enormously healthy and energetic and productive and knowledgable about food.</div>
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<i>The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August</i>. It's just cool looking. I've always loved recursion.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUMXMVI0MboVKDxq_0sllpDBPW0m33tJqzWqWnbUaSyn1ar1RY2xPN4OYnefqeJFyfkAt4W0oBeSCp9chyphenhyphen0fQyFHqKYwiHg3v7CXC8d8aQWKErEphIm8lBc9AKt3KRsIf5Fej60QbN-WFx/s1600/Life+Changing+Magic+of+Tidying+Up.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="356" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUMXMVI0MboVKDxq_0sllpDBPW0m33tJqzWqWnbUaSyn1ar1RY2xPN4OYnefqeJFyfkAt4W0oBeSCp9chyphenhyphen0fQyFHqKYwiHg3v7CXC8d8aQWKErEphIm8lBc9AKt3KRsIf5Fej60QbN-WFx/s320/Life+Changing+Magic+of+Tidying+Up.jpg" width="227" /></a></div>
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<i>The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up</i> is simple and elegant, like how your life can be if you follow the guidelines in this book.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhurxVeIwvgj7JrmVDjIH0AjIsXbPL0eaIvQhjEXg0K3_Sc0tHub6184G8EB835i19BMHV1xaLgLAq0gIgwsl9F5f-brO5SOkDtYfCN7EfsRo7z_i6I7ggVIxKrhGEbAxlXJDARdbtnxgzS/s1600/What+If.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="385" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhurxVeIwvgj7JrmVDjIH0AjIsXbPL0eaIvQhjEXg0K3_Sc0tHub6184G8EB835i19BMHV1xaLgLAq0gIgwsl9F5f-brO5SOkDtYfCN7EfsRo7z_i6I7ggVIxKrhGEbAxlXJDARdbtnxgzS/s320/What+If.jpg" width="246" /></a></div>
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<i>What If?</i> has a dinosaur being lowered into a wormhole with tentacles. Enough said.<br />
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I'm not totally sure why I like the cover for <i>A Darkling Sea</i>. It looks kind of dark and mysterious, I guess?<br />
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<i>Archivist Wasp</i> isn't by any means my favourite cover for the year, but it's striking. You can't deny that. It always stood out to me in book lists I looked at.<br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Runners Up (in No Particular Order):</u> <i>Food Rules</i> and <i>In Defense of Food</i> by Michael Pollen, because they were cool in the same way as <i>The Omnivore's Dilemma</i>, but I didn't want to put three books by the same author on the list; <i>Little Sins Mean a Lot</i> by Elizabeth Scalia, maybe because it stood out from all the rest? It's suitable to the content of the book, too; <i>Miss Ellicott's School for the Magically Minded</i> by Sage Blackwood looks like the kind of Middle Grade book I'd like to read--the children look fun and the adventure looks adventure-y.<br />
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P.S. See also my previous lists: <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2012/12/top-ten-or-so-covers-of-books-read-in.html">2012</a>, <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2013/12/top-ten-or-so-covers-of-books-read-in.html">2013</a>, <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2015/01/top-ten-or-so-covers-of-books-read-in.html" target="_blank">2014</a>, <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/01/top-ten-or-so-covers-of-books-read-in.html">2015</a>, <a href="https://redbookreviews.blogspot.com/2017/09/top-ten-or-so-covers-of-books-read-in.html">2016</a>.REDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11119540412455106441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3722215513883191203.post-4307318449099377262018-04-20T21:05:00.000-07:002018-04-20T21:05:06.384-07:00AnnouncementI can't keep up this blog anymore. My life has moved past the days of incessant reading. I'm getting married soon, starting a family. I'm already way too busy--I'll be even more so then.<br />
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Plus... I don't have a laptop anymore. I got rid of it to prevent my large overuse.<br />
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So maybe one day, maybe I'll have more of a desire to pursue hobbies like this, and be rich enough to buy a new laptop. But meanwhile, I'll maybe keep up the Top Ten books and covers per year, because those are SO fun, and not too time consuming. But I'll skip reviews and awards, and just keep track of books on Goodreads.REDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11119540412455106441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3722215513883191203.post-61195470356738411292018-04-20T20:50:00.002-07:002018-04-20T20:51:11.519-07:00RED Book Awards 2016So I'd decided that my life was too full of other things to keep up this blog, and that I'd only do the top ten lists and the awards every year, and that's it. But even that seems to be too much, since it's been <i>more than a year</i> since I was supposed to finish this post.<br />
Oh well. There's life for you.<br />
I made some notes on the books for the first half of the year, so that was helpful. But the rest of them I forget so much. The RED Book Awards are too fun to skip altogether, but they are NOT going to be very accurate or insightful this year. Yet here they are anyway, the RED Book Awards of 2016:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUTAPx5lXJI3avn0WHmeUcL49soR-8_uQxrEpFpIWz9p1bWhVjDw0Vi0JTJJCJqrFDVKzZ-ZKveMkNxhLoxP21XtXOSkE3pCLf9PHh2P464A-TcisGeWzlY4DbmHjRDDYWSGtkPte-RDi8/s1600/84%252C+Charing+Cross+Road.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="310" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUTAPx5lXJI3avn0WHmeUcL49soR-8_uQxrEpFpIWz9p1bWhVjDw0Vi0JTJJCJqrFDVKzZ-ZKveMkNxhLoxP21XtXOSkE3pCLf9PHh2P464A-TcisGeWzlY4DbmHjRDDYWSGtkPte-RDi8/s200/84%252C+Charing+Cross+Road.jpg" width="130" /></a><u style="font-weight: bold;">Favourite Central Female Character:</u> Ok, this is cheating, but Helene Hanff from <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/02/84-charing-cross-road.html">84, Charing Cross Road</a>. Helene is a real person from a non-fiction book, but I couldn't help choose her. She is just so <i>American</i> in the very best sense of the word: energetic, obnoxious, kinda crazy, but charismatic as hell. She <i>felt</i> like a Main Character.<br />
<u>Runners Up:</u> >>Maree Mallory from <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/05/deep-secret.html">Deep Secret</a>: I don't remember her all that well anymore, but what I do remember is a grumpy, funny, delightful character, not a type nearly common enough as a main female lead. >>Miss Pym from <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/03/miss-pym-disposes.html">Miss Pym Disposes</a>: a bit older, a bit different, a bit feisty.<br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Favourite Central Male Character:</u> Gonna be a tie for this one. I could have chosen, but I had so many runner up options I decided I could afford to give the winner's place to two.<br />
Gwalchmai from <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/04/hawk-of-may.html">Hawk of May</a>. Very inspiring and heroic, in an <i>interesting</i> way instead of a cardboard cutout hero way.<br />
Shoya Ishida from <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/06/a-silent-voice.html">A Silent Voice</a>. Such a realistic complex character, especially for a manga. Child bully turned depressed, lonely teenager--how many popular manga, or books in general, could choose him as a character and be so fascinating?<br />
<u>Runners Up:</u> >>Cazaril from <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/08/travel-reading-part-7.html">The Curse of Chalion</a>: he's not quite as fantastic as Bujold's main hero, Miles Vorkosigan, but he still has this great arc of people slowly realizing his awesomeness as events spiral into exciting chaos. >>The whiskey priest from <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2017/06/travel-reading-madonna-house-part-3.html">The Power and the Glory</a>: he's not a <i>good</i> character, but he's an <i>amazing</i> character, if you know what I mean. Complex, real, fascinating. >>Rupert Venables from <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/05/deep-secret.html">Deep Secret</a>: basically an ordinary British guy, but with this delightful undercurrent of weirdness.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhllv9_F-hduayzdDWURXegIpNvoTXrDfUIm0OtyOFWmHsfKmysaK2zaXr3zLR_cjS043theAbCQjkgTaCmTH2z030IWiqX93iJHZjvTYpm7DT_tBZ5IiwYCK_XmsDLvpkunNKrpkRn9iDC/s1600/A+Silent+Voice+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="214" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhllv9_F-hduayzdDWURXegIpNvoTXrDfUIm0OtyOFWmHsfKmysaK2zaXr3zLR_cjS043theAbCQjkgTaCmTH2z030IWiqX93iJHZjvTYpm7DT_tBZ5IiwYCK_XmsDLvpkunNKrpkRn9iDC/s200/A+Silent+Voice+2.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>
<u style="font-weight: bold;">Favourite Secondary Female Character:</u> Yuzuru Nishimiya from <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/06/a-silent-voice.html">A Silent Voice</a>. So feisty, so funny, so cute, so devoted a sister, so unique a character. All the characters from this manga were fantastic and complex, but she was the one I liked best.<br />
<u>Runners Up:</u> Sophie from <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/02/jinx.html">Jinx</a>, <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/02/jinxs-magic.html">Jinx's Magic</a>, and <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/02/jinxs-fire.html">Jinx's Fire</a>: so practical and intelligent. She wasn't a very central character, but she appealed to me a lot. >>Elidan from <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/05/kingdom-of-summer.html">Kingdom of Summer</a>: honestly, I can't quite remember what I liked about her. But I have so few people for this section, and she was on a list of favourite secondary female characters I made last year sometime, so I must have liked <i>something</i> about her. Maybe it was her complexity and hardness or something?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqTqtcxUqRWjIZOWI52q3vxr794LC8_Z1RGHy-GWMBetjZRLfENL9UjIgh8zUDWiBI_roH3q6rGDh4yQkcqzjCSqc8ZbPOJiZ1yGNga9j1QNL1V1IccpqpjiQJ7O4QPTfUv3yBzm-GUZwd/s1600/Jinx.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="648" data-original-width="430" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqTqtcxUqRWjIZOWI52q3vxr794LC8_Z1RGHy-GWMBetjZRLfENL9UjIgh8zUDWiBI_roH3q6rGDh4yQkcqzjCSqc8ZbPOJiZ1yGNga9j1QNL1V1IccpqpjiQJ7O4QPTfUv3yBzm-GUZwd/s200/Jinx.jpg" width="131" /></a><u style="font-weight: bold;">Favourite Secondary Male Character:</u> Simon, also from <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/02/jinx.html">Jinx</a>, <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/02/jinxs-magic.html">Jinx's Magic</a>, and <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/02/jinxs-fire.html">Jinx's Fire</a>. This is where my lack of memory <i>really</i> annoys me. Because I remember loving Simon so much, and him being so great a character. But I just can't remember him enough to define it. I think it was the grumpiness, the intelligence, the complexity. The fact that you couldn't really tell if he was evil or wonderful. One of the two for sure, just not ordinary.<br />
<u>Runners Up:</u> >>Scholar Christopher Wolfe from <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/03/ink-and-bone.html">Ink and Bone</a>: fiercely intelligent, harsh yet a good teacher. >>Keir Ieskar from <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/03/the-silence-of-medair.html">The Silence of Medair</a> and <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/03/voice-of-lost.html">Voice of the Lost</a>: so fascinating, so controlled, so secretly emotional. >>The Bloodwitch from <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/04/truthwitch.html">Truthwitch</a>: very mysterious and powerful, and definitely my favourite character from this book. >>Nick Mallory from <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/05/deep-secret.html">Deep Secret</a>: I really don't remember this book well enough to talk about Nick, but I think he was grumpy and clever. >>Also there's some of the knights from <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/04/hawk-of-may.html">Hawk of May</a>, and the king from <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/06/the-sand-reckoner.html">The Sand-Reckoner</a>, but I really don't remember enough about them to write anything. I wanted to make note of them, though. Good characters.<br />
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(This was my favourite category this year. Some really top-notch secondary male characters.)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEdLNMdZBj8XkJ8RUO1f1Od7xeOPreSoWeodhyXd6fB1E3XmLs4zahOMAFngipKtr5H4BfRIJzLaXS6LrDrxABfGWYWzMpR7KSnr0RUvlN51aHhIg7NmpCfXVAw7t3_ANGqBb_t8H1yA9E/s1600/Silent+Voice.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1067" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEdLNMdZBj8XkJ8RUO1f1Od7xeOPreSoWeodhyXd6fB1E3XmLs4zahOMAFngipKtr5H4BfRIJzLaXS6LrDrxABfGWYWzMpR7KSnr0RUvlN51aHhIg7NmpCfXVAw7t3_ANGqBb_t8H1yA9E/s200/Silent+Voice.jpg" width="133" /></a><u style="font-weight: bold;">Favourite Ensemble:</u> The group of kids from <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/06/a-silent-voice.html">A Silent Voice</a>. This series is getting many awards for a good reason. The reality of these kids' characters, and the complexity of their goodness. Just <i>so great</i>. And you got so many different interactions between them. Almost no paring (not in a romantic sense) was left unexplored.<br />
<u>Runners Up:</u> >>The warriors from <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/04/hawk-of-may.html">Hawk of May</a>: so cool, so inspiring. >>The girls from <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/03/miss-pym-disposes.html">Miss Pym Disposes</a>: so funny, so real, so interesting, such a great contrast to <i>Hawk of May</i>. >>The Orkney people from <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/05/kingdom-of-summer.html">Kingdom of Summer</a>: I had a note that this was an interesting ensemble because they were "so messed up". I don't remember anything more than that, but I know I <i>do</i> like messed-up fictional families sometimes.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1UyFLLDoogMvlJrTGdX7WiBrIIgE8Iyc6o1Oy8M-JICUE3lJRcBuCQrBIEUL-_oJW_sqSayyesriW6wHCYWs53ra4_vxZSgYgD9XkEdsrIyCKcDaCu8qEfYExtF3PRoFsuBTJsVEldmTE/s1600/Voice+of+the+Lost.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="312" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1UyFLLDoogMvlJrTGdX7WiBrIIgE8Iyc6o1Oy8M-JICUE3lJRcBuCQrBIEUL-_oJW_sqSayyesriW6wHCYWs53ra4_vxZSgYgD9XkEdsrIyCKcDaCu8qEfYExtF3PRoFsuBTJsVEldmTE/s200/Voice+of+the+Lost.jpg" width="131" /></a><u style="font-weight: bold;">Favourite Romance:</u> Tie again.<br />
Simon and Sophie from <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/02/jinx.html">Jinx</a>, <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/02/jinxs-magic.html">Jinx's Magic</a>, and <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/02/jinxs-fire.html">Jinx's Fire</a>. They were already married, a point in their favour since this seems to be a bit rare in books. They were so different, yet suited. Some angst, some unexpected affection, yet without the drama that many romances have.<br />
Medair and SPOILER from Medair books, <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/03/the-silence-of-medair.html">The Silence of Medair</a> and <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/03/voice-of-lost.html">Voice of the Lost</a>. Spoilers for the books ahead!<br />
I was not a big fan of the primary romance (between Medair and Illukar), so I was so, so excited when my favourite character, Keir Ieskar, turned out to be a love interest, in the most weird, interesting, time travel-ly way.<br />
<u>Runners Up:</u> >>Shoya Ishida and Shoko Nishimiya from <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/06/a-silent-voice.html">A Silent Voice</a>: not really explicitly a romance (or it might have won), but probably one anyway, and <i>so</i> sweet and real. >>Gwalchmai and Elidan from <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/05/kingdom-of-summer.html">Kingdom of Summer</a>: very sad, but good. A good story. >>Robert Blair and Marion Sharpe from <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/05/the-franchise-affair.html">The Franchise Affair</a>: I liked it. Don't remember why. But look at this quote of him describing her: "[A]ll compact of fire and metal. ... People don't marry women like Marion Sharpe, any more than they marry winds and clouds. Any more than they marry Joan of Arc." >>Romeo and Juliet from <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/08/romeo-andor-juliet.html">Romeo and/or Juliet</a>: of course, being a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure book, I didn't <i>always</i> like their romance, but some of the endings could be very sweet and show how awesome marriage can be.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUSnpKvzkeXEH9Tjw_Hk7FGOINzu2OymuX8RQ36TYB-vrXHrkPkoeaEncpDamr5uhgXTHNGOOMLMcPQHacM3Si8_ofJFChhEydKpKSTQouvVqmJrrKvZZkWmpPGpheO6-PjjZ0852Y0e6j/s1600/The+Thrilling+Adventures+of+Lovelace+%2526+Babbage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="336" data-original-width="260" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUSnpKvzkeXEH9Tjw_Hk7FGOINzu2OymuX8RQ36TYB-vrXHrkPkoeaEncpDamr5uhgXTHNGOOMLMcPQHacM3Si8_ofJFChhEydKpKSTQouvVqmJrrKvZZkWmpPGpheO6-PjjZ0852Y0e6j/s200/The+Thrilling+Adventures+of+Lovelace+%2526+Babbage.jpg" width="154" /></a><u style="font-weight: bold;">Favourite Bromance:</u> Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage from The <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/03/the-thrilling-adventures-of-lovelace.html">Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage</a>. They bond over awesome computer stuff, and up being the first programmers. It's awesome.<br />
<u>Runners Up:</u> >>Jinx and Simon from <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/02/jinx.html">Jinx</a>, <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/02/jinxs-magic.html">Jinx's Magic</a>, and <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/02/jinxs-fire.html">Jinx's Fire</a>: ok, not exactly a bromance. More father/son. But so great, with all the gruff exteriors and hidden affection that are so fun to read about. >>Duun and Thorn from <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/08/cuckoos-egg.html">Cuckoo's Egg</a>: again, father/son, not bromance. I don't remember this one too well, but there was some good stuff. >>Helene Hanffe and Frank Doel from <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/02/84-charing-cross-road.html">84, Charing Cross Road</a>: she is just SO American, and he SO British. And their relationship via letter is sweet and grows so slowly and naturally. I am so glad this is nonfiction and this relationship actually happened. >>Jess Brightwell and Dario Santiago from <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/03/ink-and-bone.html">Ink and Bone</a>: Again, not <i>exactly</i> a bromance... but such a good frenemy relationship that I had to add it.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrz-XCiXYYpzmjrUFtSSdVc1tNb1JD1CjcGXDTl3-nBloD_-agbm3UJk-Ol3QSqFB1hE8Szm9mWZ_D1ZQuPraKTfeVUXF74WbVQfXw4jnU05M1GbqIVPwnXU5oLQ2rsfbdWm_STtNq8lMM/s1600/Paladin+of+Souls.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="295" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrz-XCiXYYpzmjrUFtSSdVc1tNb1JD1CjcGXDTl3-nBloD_-agbm3UJk-Ol3QSqFB1hE8Szm9mWZ_D1ZQuPraKTfeVUXF74WbVQfXw4jnU05M1GbqIVPwnXU5oLQ2rsfbdWm_STtNq8lMM/s200/Paladin+of+Souls.jpg" width="123" /></a><u style="font-weight: bold;">Favourite World:</u> <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/08/travel-reading-part-7.html">Curse of Chalion</a> (also <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2017/06/travel-reading-madonna-house-part-3.html">Paladin of Souls</a> because it's in the same world, but I liked reading about this world best in the first book for a few reasons). It's the gods that get me in this one, and the people's relationship to them, and the religion in general. Bujold seems to really understand somehow how people's relationship to God tends to work (in a way that reminds me of Megan Whalen Turner and <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2009/11/king-of-attolia.html">The King of Attolia</a>).<br />
<u>Runners Up:</u> >>Hmmmm, this one is hard... (Man, do I tend to forget world building) <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/04/hawk-of-may.html">Hawk of May</a>, maybe, cause of the Light and all that? <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/03/ink-and-bone.html">Ink and Bone</a> cause books? <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/05/deep-secret.html">Deep Secret </a>cause of Diana Wynne Jones craziness? <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/02/jinx.html">Jinx</a> cause of cool fairy tales? <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/07/and-all-stars.html">And All the Stars</a> cause of cool alien/apocalypse stuff? Maybe even <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2017/01/travel-reading-part-8.html">Speaker for the Dead</a> or <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2017/01/travel-reading-madonna-house-part-2.html">Fortress in Eye of Time</a> or <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2017/01/travel-reading-madonna-house-part-2.html">Wild Seed</a>, although I've forgotten too much to properly add them?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXxa_J92DAtJEGN9r5JT9UwW_AjdhaPbbjKuFi_PRD5SG7l-OOUIIBlGeEoqdrggm92XrkMs8Z-WF6Nqxlm4X5TdFGxSUJxQWVDcDN-Ataj4F2_VyuBzQte56pl8gvr7hE-TNN6LU7aRLX/s1600/Let+Your+Life+Speak.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="431" data-original-width="318" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXxa_J92DAtJEGN9r5JT9UwW_AjdhaPbbjKuFi_PRD5SG7l-OOUIIBlGeEoqdrggm92XrkMs8Z-WF6Nqxlm4X5TdFGxSUJxQWVDcDN-Ataj4F2_VyuBzQte56pl8gvr7hE-TNN6LU7aRLX/s200/Let+Your+Life+Speak.jpg" width="147" /></a></div>
<u style="font-weight: bold;">Favourite Surprisingly Good Book:</u> <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/02/let-your-life-speak.html">Let Your Life Speak</a>. I thought it was a wishy washy New Age-y book. And you know what? Maybe it is. But it changed my life. The start of a long process of growth and change started from reading this book, and I am so, so grateful.<br />
<u>Runners Up:</u> >><a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/02/no-exit-and-three-other-plays.html">No Exit</a>: I actually <i>like</i> Sartre's plays. Who knew? I didn't. Existentialism is fascinating, even if I disagree. >><a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/03/voice-of-lost.html">Voice of the Lost</a>: considering it's really only half of <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/03/the-silence-of-medair.html">one book</a>, I expected it to have a very similar feel, but actually I liked it considerably better. It put several aspects of the first in a completely different light, and had unique plot twists.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSdyCwJNNDD0dJnD3moNr6_kDIdUx39GXnHGyDRMw0yFuKqAgCI-d5SpdHU4uC5p74ZyKbong1BpyqOrO1yFM6Po5i2KPmHG9z2elKeEAM5ao-wavMxAnbyWRaKLLaWlteDc7E3ZrKtvUu/s1600/Fortress+in+the+Eye+of+Time.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="288" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSdyCwJNNDD0dJnD3moNr6_kDIdUx39GXnHGyDRMw0yFuKqAgCI-d5SpdHU4uC5p74ZyKbong1BpyqOrO1yFM6Po5i2KPmHG9z2elKeEAM5ao-wavMxAnbyWRaKLLaWlteDc7E3ZrKtvUu/s200/Fortress+in+the+Eye+of+Time.jpg" width="121" /></a><u style="font-weight: bold;">Favourite Book Not Getting Enough Awards:</u> <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2017/01/travel-reading-madonna-house-part-2.html">Fortress in Eye of Time</a>. There were some great characters here, some interesting world building, and some great relationships (Tristen and Cefwyn, Idrys (Master Crow) and Cefwyn, whatever-her-name-was and Cefwyn). But I knew even while reading it that I was going to forget far too much to read the sequels. It needed to grab me just a <i>bit</i> more. But still--it was good stuff, so I'd like to acknowledge it.<br />
<u>Runners Up:</u> >><a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/08/romeo-andor-juliet.html">Romeo and/or Juliet</a>: because it's hilarious and amazing. >><a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2017/01/travel-reading-madonna-house-part-2.html">Spiritual Formation</a> and<a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/05/the-case-for-psalms.html">The Case for the Psalms</a>: the RED Awards are mostly about aspects only applicable to fiction, but I read a bunch of really great nonfiction this year, and it feels sad not to include them. So here's a small shoutout to them!<br />
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P.S. See also the previous years awards: <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2014/01/red-book-awards-2013.html" target="_blank">2013</a>, <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2015/02/red-book-awards-2014.html" target="_blank">2014</a>, <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/02/red-book-awards-2015.html">2015</a>.REDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11119540412455106441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3722215513883191203.post-90773421139662964092017-09-30T12:03:00.001-07:002017-09-30T12:03:30.914-07:00Top Ten (Or So): Books Read in 2016As I said in my <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.com/2017/09/top-ten-or-so-covers-of-books-read-in.html">top ten covers list</a>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Yes, it's September. Yes, I have basically abandoned this blog. I'm writing short reviews on Goodreads, but I can't keep up with this anymore due to life circumstances. I'll probably write an official post about it in a while. But meanwhile, the Top-Ten Lists are just <i>so</i> fun to do, that I can still manage to find the time and energy.</blockquote>
So yeah. I don't remember a lot because my memory's bad and it was a long time ago. But I tried.<br />
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But besides LIFE stuff happening, this was a decent year for reading. I read 4 more books than I did the year before (60 vs 56). 14 out of the 60 books were nonfiction--one more than the previous year. (Next year's going to be even better: I already read 14 and the year's not even done yet.) I count this as progress because it shows a diversifying of my tastes. I discovered a few new fabulous authors (especially Jean-Paul Sartre, Sage Blackwood, Gillian Bradshaw, Henri Nouwen).<br />
So yeah, decent. Although the feeling in general is kind of meh, I think because of how many books I found just slightly less enjoyable than I'd hoped. (As a preview: this is not the case for this year, 2017. Difficult year, but <i>good</i> books.)<br />
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So without further ado, in sort-of approximate order from <b>least</b> to <b>most</b> favourite, are some of the best books I read in 2015:<br />
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<u>Section Three--these were great, I loved these ones: the "all the good ones" section:</u><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixoh1PEWHe5qdYJSjNXR9XN0y3tc-EQvf7AmyGZL0POWd1T9sHBXXYVyGMD9h7plnKdwBMt7qONeEsUi1-rQuZRy1zNSiMBVEvz4KQxs-BiMBOZwH-Z1b1DLtjrVM8uyBqMGnw8KrYdtlb/s1600/d8813a54499947.595de0e2c7e12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="582" data-original-width="800" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixoh1PEWHe5qdYJSjNXR9XN0y3tc-EQvf7AmyGZL0POWd1T9sHBXXYVyGMD9h7plnKdwBMt7qONeEsUi1-rQuZRy1zNSiMBVEvz4KQxs-BiMBOZwH-Z1b1DLtjrVM8uyBqMGnw8KrYdtlb/s320/d8813a54499947.595de0e2c7e12.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From Nikita Golubev<br />(https://www.behance.net/gallery/54499947/Jinx-3-illustrations)</td></tr>
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--<a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/02/jinx.html">Jinx</a> by Sage Blackwood. Children's literature as it should be. Complex characters, complex relationships (Jinx and Simon! Simon and Sophie! etc etc!). Also I found this artist who did <i>gorgeous</i> illustrations for the <a href="https://www.behance.net/gallery/25835111/Jinx-by-Sage-Blackwood-Color-illustrations">all</a> <a href="https://www.behance.net/gallery/32888829/Jinx-2-color-illustrations">three</a> <a href="https://www.behance.net/gallery/54499947/Jinx-3-illustrations">books</a> in the series, which just made me love them all the more.<br />
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--<a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/08/cuckoos-egg.html">Cuckoo's Egg</a> by C. J. Cherryh. This will bring me to a whole new set of adult scifi books, both from the author and from the sub-genre (hard sociological scifi). There were relationships and world-building and people's inner thoughts that were all complex and interesting and made me think. Cool stuff.<br />
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--<a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/02/no-exit-and-three-other-plays.html">No Exit</a> by Jean-Paul Sartre. Existentialist works are actually <i>really interesting</i>. I had no idea before this. At least Sartre's are. I so, so much wanted to properly discuss this one with someone after reading it, but alas my life was lonely last year.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKJSG72-2GczMxzTurwXfRZ64BKXSqrOGiJTOtzuo7Pb3l3hkRsAXD4OZgpq1dG_kYQFlWVIxl_B_9DjM9X01cVrVcPxZKjWpZ6J347LrG1-9AhDczaVndvjlvjdgstTNd5QelmW8FEmE8/s1600/maxresdefault.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKJSG72-2GczMxzTurwXfRZ64BKXSqrOGiJTOtzuo7Pb3l3hkRsAXD4OZgpq1dG_kYQFlWVIxl_B_9DjM9X01cVrVcPxZKjWpZ6J347LrG1-9AhDczaVndvjlvjdgstTNd5QelmW8FEmE8/s320/maxresdefault.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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--<a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2017/06/travel-reading-madonna-house-part-3.html">Shirt of Flame</a> by Heather King. I'm just going to repeat my short original review for this, because it says it all: "Profound and difficult and consoling simultaneously. It came at an absolutely perfect time in my life, and gave me a relationship to St. Therese for which I'll be forever grateful. Also good coming so soon after <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2017/06/travel-reading-madonna-house-part-3.html">The Power and the Glory</a>, since King also get the grittiness and paradox and beauty of Catholicism."<br />
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--<a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/08/romeo-andor-juliet.html">Romeo and/or Juliet</a> by Ryan North. Ryan North is one of my favourite authors, which seems weird to say about someone who mostly writes comic books and choose-your-own-adventures. But he's just... SO. FUNNY. And comedy is as an acceptable genre as tragedy or realism. So take that.<br />
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<u>Section Two--these are just <i>so good</i>: the section with my <i>actual</i> favourites of the year:</u><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-OegnEYr0F8N7LIghBh4aTXeZmrmZQjtf_Hb_Z69jvfO13DRgqbys8qQru1k4JIv3FafdOFEBKUPoZzx9a1P-CewOEkvEIULc5ocJugErsxh9FAtavCF4R2_TynVROdIQg2v_nBV-UUxy/s1600/Spiritual+Formation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="261" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-OegnEYr0F8N7LIghBh4aTXeZmrmZQjtf_Hb_Z69jvfO13DRgqbys8qQru1k4JIv3FafdOFEBKUPoZzx9a1P-CewOEkvEIULc5ocJugErsxh9FAtavCF4R2_TynVROdIQg2v_nBV-UUxy/s320/Spiritual+Formation.jpg" width="208" /></a></div>
--<a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2017/01/travel-reading-madonna-house-part-2.html">Spritual Formation</a> by Henri Nouwen. Made me think and pray in a way I hadn't before. Always, always worth it, that.<br />
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--<a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/03/miss-pym-disposes.html">Miss Pym Disposes</a> by Josephine Tey. This was just such a lovely reading experience. The way Tey gets into the heads of her characters is <i>so great</i>--I'm interested in all of them, which is so rare. (They're almost completely women in this book too, which is cool and interesting.) She also makes physical descriptions and atmosphere that actually interest me. As I said in my original review, it's "[l]ovely and light and cozy and creepy all at once". Plus just add in the feel of the book, the look of the cover. This is a book to read all alone when it's poring rain and you have hot chocolate and cookies to eat.<br />
(Also a shoutout here to <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/05/the-franchise-affair.html">The Franchise Affair</a>. I liked <i>Miss Pym</i> better, and I liked both of them for similar reasons, so I thought I wouldn't include TFA, even though it was pretty awesome.)<br />
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--<a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/04/hawk-of-may.html">Hawk of May</a> by Gillian Bradshaw. I forget more of this book than I wish I did, but I remember it <i>good</i>. And didn't portray Gawain as a dumb brute. It was just a good, good historical-fiction-with-hints-of-fantasy book that actually portrayed Christianity as <i>not</i> a terribly thing. In fact, it was quite inspiring, and I remember being so thrilled to find a book about Gawain (called Gwalchmai here) and his family that was interesting and gritty. I really, really liked it.<br />
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--<a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/03/the-thrilling-adventures-of-lovelace.html">The Thrilling Adventures of Babbage and Lovelace</a> by Sydney Padua. Famous historical computer science people! In an alternate universe! In graphic novel form! I looooooove books like this. Enough said.<br />
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<u>Section One--life-changing, ground-breaking, or astonishing: the new additions to my all-time favourites</u><br />
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--<a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/06/a-silent-voice.html">A Silent Voice</a> by Yoshitoki Ooima. Messy, real, tragic, romantic, sweet. There were aspects of my inner life and anxiety that I saw in this series that I never saw anywhere else. And the realness and complexity of these characters!<br />
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--<a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/02/let-your-life-speak.html">Let Your Life Speak</a> by Parker J. Palmer. This book changed my life. It's weird to say this, because in some ways it doesn't seem like the most profound book in the world. And truthfully, the change it immediately made wasn't that profound. But it started me down a path of growth that I am so, so grateful for. Self-knowledge and nurturing the inner life are WORTH it, guys! Who knew. But seriously, it is a great book, containing such phrases as "fierce with reality" which make me want to be the best person I can possibly be.<br />
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--<a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2017/06/travel-reading-madonna-house-part-3.html">The Power and the Glory</a> by Graham Greene. This book surprised and astonished me. Who knew it was going to be so thought-provoking? While still easy to read? And actually <i>gripping</i>? And so Catholic in the best, gritty, complex sense of the word? Amazing book, and it is to my great sorrow that I didn't get to discuss it with anyone while it was still fresh in my mind.<br />
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<u><b>Runners Up (In No Order Whatsoever and Possibly Missing Some Good Ones Because I'm Really, Really Bad at Making Up My Mind)</b></u><br />
--<a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/03/voice-of-lost.html">Voice of the Lost</a>. Great romance! Unusual plot twists! Improvement from the previous book!<br />
--<a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/08/travel-reading-part-7.html">Curse of Chalion</a>. The way Bujold builds up the awesomeness of some of her characters... Also the religion. Good stuff.<br />
--<a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2017/06/travel-reading-madonna-house-part-3.html">In the Night Garden</a>. The structure! The imagination!<br />
--<a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2017/01/travel-reading-madonna-house-part-2.html">Wild Seed</a>. Memorable, unique adult scifi.<br />
--<a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/07/acedia-me.html">Acedia & me</a>. Interesting take on one of the most serious problems of our time (I think).<br />
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P.S. See also the Top Ten (Or So) lists from previous years: <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2012/12/top-ten-or-so-books-read-in-2012.html" target="_blank">2012</a>, <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2014/01/top-ten-or-so-books-read-in-2013.html">2013</a>, <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2015/01/top-ten-or-so-books-read-in-2014.html" target="_blank">2014</a>, <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/01/top-ten-or-so-books-read-in-2015.html">2015</a>.REDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11119540412455106441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3722215513883191203.post-92007103753906312212017-09-20T12:11:00.002-07:002017-09-20T12:11:17.090-07:00Top Ten (Or So): Covers of Books Read in 2016Yes, it's September. Yes, I have basically abandoned this blog. I'm writing short reviews on Goodreads, but I can't keep up with this anymore due to life circumstances. I'll probably write an official post about it in a while. But meanwhile, the Top-Ten Lists are just <i>so</i> fun to do, that I can still manage to find the time and energy.<br />
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So here they are--in only approximate order--<b>favourite to least favourite</b>, the best covers of the books I read in 2016. It was a bit of a disappointing lot this year. Not that there were lots of bad ones, just none that really struck me (unlike last year). (Note that I am not <i>in any way</i> an artist or designer or anything, so these are based purely on what I like in book covers.)<br />
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<a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/05/deep-secret.html">Deep Secret</a>. It's almost purely because of how much I love space. I LOVE space. Look at how that beautiful, beautiful space is outlined by an ordinary door, giving the impression that you never know when you'll open a door and come across GLORY. Plus there's a simplicity to this cover, and I generally like simplicity and a certain amount of minimalism.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnODliyE1N9maLMo4FxaZtg26ZoOO2mUVY74T7mpvnTGRwzIwpCZlMU7Q_bKsfUqa0DEJSgO6gHeBmETD1WJg8pVGu-vUeoFkVWWMZTodzc4Rr1mSER4PkNkVUW5T3SdG-gsA2CuK3rnzL/s1600/In+the+Night+Garden.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="338" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnODliyE1N9maLMo4FxaZtg26ZoOO2mUVY74T7mpvnTGRwzIwpCZlMU7Q_bKsfUqa0DEJSgO6gHeBmETD1WJg8pVGu-vUeoFkVWWMZTodzc4Rr1mSER4PkNkVUW5T3SdG-gsA2CuK3rnzL/s320/In+the+Night+Garden.jpg" width="216" /></a></div>
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Although, speaking of simplicity, I like the cover for <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2017/06/travel-reading-madonna-house-part-3.html">In the Night Garden</a> for completely the opposite reason. There's so much going on here. I kept referring back to the cover whenever I read a new story to see if I could find elements. And the art is beautiful too.<br />
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<a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/07/vicious.html">Vicious</a> also has an illustrated cover, and I love it. The colouring, the blood, the striking human figure. I pretty much always hate people on covers when they're real live people (see <i>Truthwitch</i> below for a surprising exception), but illustrated! Especially this well!<br />
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I love the cover for <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/08/romeo-andor-juliet.html">Romeo and/or Juliet</a> because it's hilarious and it suits the book so well. (I like it better than the cover for <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2014/02/to-be-or-not-to-be-choosable-path.html">To Be Or Not to Be</a> actually, even though the illustrations inside that one are better.)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxMd6WgGzqmQ4EESwkyzRaPiBRgAC32OnNbQf2Jvbhb2IIT1KrcnYoGaW8z-LXSvLnNpBBkNaxahCo78UtUv2uXntIQhu-tnpFutg8MBenktZBwMOoDVYwKOG-ttae7RGxqZmBomJmRhN7/s1600/Wild+Seed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1330" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxMd6WgGzqmQ4EESwkyzRaPiBRgAC32OnNbQf2Jvbhb2IIT1KrcnYoGaW8z-LXSvLnNpBBkNaxahCo78UtUv2uXntIQhu-tnpFutg8MBenktZBwMOoDVYwKOG-ttae7RGxqZmBomJmRhN7/s320/Wild+Seed.jpg" width="192" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2017/01/travel-reading-madonna-house-part-2.html">Wild Seed</a> looks like an old-fashion scifi cover, which I normally don't like because of the colouring and busyness and weirdness. But this one fascinated me. Not sure why.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8_AtH7OnXLNKah6cSnpv0b82lMWCCFAbekCV0k0OoAPj38IcN0I99CxRqdp482m5ZRlzoxGkI3KEfJF5NukJoYUCBeod0oZlqXlde1d83TEKVDxtm6YU8o_Jtvc2QwvOU5WqwyEbrfQWV/s1600/Not+God%2527s+Type.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="404" data-original-width="265" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8_AtH7OnXLNKah6cSnpv0b82lMWCCFAbekCV0k0OoAPj38IcN0I99CxRqdp482m5ZRlzoxGkI3KEfJF5NukJoYUCBeod0oZlqXlde1d83TEKVDxtm6YU8o_Jtvc2QwvOU5WqwyEbrfQWV/s320/Not+God%2527s+Type.jpg" width="209" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/04/not-gods-type.html">Not God's Type</a> has books and a sword on it and it's teal, which is my favourite colour. What else can you ask for?<br />
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I don't loooove the cover for <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/04/truthwitch.html">Truthwitch</a>, but I do like it a lot. That surprised me a lot because it's a live girl on the front with lots of CGI-type looking stuff, which is pretty much my least favourite type of cover (if you don't include bare-chested romance covers). But--I <i>do</i> like it. Maybe it's the blue colour, maybe it's how everything is arranged, the shape of it.<br />
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<a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/02/catch-release.html">Catch & Release</a> has the type of simplicity/minimalism I love. Also the colour's nice. And those hooks! Eye-catching. Good stuff.<br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Runners Up (in No Particular Order):</u> <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/07/the-keeper-of-mist.html">The Keeper of the Mist</a> because it's just really pretty; <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/07/and-all-stars.html">And All the Stars</a> because the girl on the front actually suits the description in the book (that doesn't seem to happen often), plus it just looks kind of cool; <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/03/ink-and-bone.html">Ink and Bone</a> because it's pretty too; <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2017/06/travel-reading-madonna-house-part-3.html">The Return of the Prodigal Son</a> because that painting is fantastic, and the cover couldn't really be anything else; <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/03/miss-pym-disposes.html">Miss Pym Disposes</a> because the whole feel of reading the book was so great, and this includes seeing the cover.<br />
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P.S. See also my previous lists: <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2012/12/top-ten-or-so-covers-of-books-read-in.html">2012</a>, <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2013/12/top-ten-or-so-covers-of-books-read-in.html">2013</a>, <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2015/01/top-ten-or-so-covers-of-books-read-in.html" target="_blank">2014</a>, <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/01/top-ten-or-so-covers-of-books-read-in.html">2015</a>.REDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11119540412455106441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3722215513883191203.post-5544867441148236512017-06-08T17:37:00.001-07:002017-06-08T17:48:56.028-07:00Travel Reading: Madonna House Part 3During the four months of reading the below books, I've been at a farming community in the middle of nowhere (if anything can be called "the middle of nowhere", rural Canada can), with no electronics. It is far too difficult to write up proper reviews in these circumstances, so I'm continuing the Travel Reading series, where I simply write a couple sentences about each book read, and leave it at that. Here goes the third set of three:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1JGbqjTqyLTtGi2fGuSNbcq1zvOlibyNIW5kQfb6FTRlMTmNTvXu9ZmDLWBYxyMxR-v1HhVh7hwEyErpRXqjkmocewGs0da6ywmX75FO0-uSBdtIihNmxXwKnSdIQO_VpXmEiAjh_iEkj/s1600/Poustinia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1JGbqjTqyLTtGi2fGuSNbcq1zvOlibyNIW5kQfb6FTRlMTmNTvXu9ZmDLWBYxyMxR-v1HhVh7hwEyErpRXqjkmocewGs0da6ywmX75FO0-uSBdtIihNmxXwKnSdIQO_VpXmEiAjh_iEkj/s200/Poustinia.jpg" width="133" /></a>"Poustinia" by Catherine Doherty<br />
Grade: 3 1/2 stars<br />
I love the idea of Poustinia--it's epic. And some of Catherine's ideas are just so <i>true</i> and beautiful, and not something you see talked about anywhere else (at least in our culture). But I struggled a lot with her style, especially her seeming anti-intellectualism. This was a very up-and-down reading experience for me because of that. But I recommend this heartily! I think almost anyone could get <i>something</i> new and helpful out of it, at least.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGDbbbBPn7iifFbJtetDwqj_1yV5pwXeVYbM8S-JOWuM_FhT8q43p46QNwafP43OJHLzYlP5pRqNArYIKFqDDAOm4_kz9IimdLUf49gy1uLP1Jif5fC5NiyYDy3fb7ZnphGJqX7aBy4fC4/s1600/The+Power+and+the+Glory.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGDbbbBPn7iifFbJtetDwqj_1yV5pwXeVYbM8S-JOWuM_FhT8q43p46QNwafP43OJHLzYlP5pRqNArYIKFqDDAOm4_kz9IimdLUf49gy1uLP1Jif5fC5NiyYDy3fb7ZnphGJqX7aBy4fC4/s200/The+Power+and+the+Glory.jpg" width="128" /></a>"The Power and the Glory" by Graham Greene<br />
Grade: 5 stars<br />
SO Catholic, in the best possible sense of that phrase. Greene <i>gets</i> so many things--what real sanctity is, the silliness that is sin, and how people think deep down to themselves. He reminds me of a grittier version of C. S. Lewis in those ways. This is a book worth a good, long sit-down discussion over beer or hot chocolate. Yet all this might give the impression that it's a "difficult" book, or preachy, or only relate-able to Catholics or something, but that's totally false. It's easy to read, excellently written, brilliant characters, gets to the bottom of LIFE. Man, I don't even know how to describe my thoughts properly, but I am <i>so</i> glad I finally got around to reading this.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVRdkV1o3MMgmBEfsLFUAAw_Bev7hU3TBxbJsF20R1sTtJ6HDEOWADwmdECGCNxLbF_dENO4mr7aX7oziYf_K37U5cKVQvRqcordE-71qA5-NoZlpi6PgeglrmLMqKqYThcckM3NRBjUOo/s1600/In+the+Night+Garden.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVRdkV1o3MMgmBEfsLFUAAw_Bev7hU3TBxbJsF20R1sTtJ6HDEOWADwmdECGCNxLbF_dENO4mr7aX7oziYf_K37U5cKVQvRqcordE-71qA5-NoZlpi6PgeglrmLMqKqYThcckM3NRBjUOo/s200/In+the+Night+Garden.jpg" width="135" /></a>"In the Night Garden" by Catherynne M. Valente<br />
Grade: 4 stars<br />
The structure of this book! It totally thrilled me. A layered, interlocking series of tales and stories, with unexpected connections and call-backs and Inception-like depth. The unending nature of the structure was a little annoying for me personally, though. I wanted everything wrapped up in the end, in an incredibly complex bundle of imagination and creativity. Instead it emphasizes the fact that stories don't <i>really</i> have a beginning and end, which is probably <i>actually</i> the best route to take, despite my personal preferences.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI8HF7SboeNHLL_r80cEuGK_XJHdbibSJcqY_Gwp9FDxAdM1FWjmzJbjtKhHp1HnD_wSzcKd9EObhplCU_LeDDo4rpvIFojdY-t0Y_I3HaXEsGZbgB8n7BK3I-GXyD4xyWUDHWqAMrtStS/s1600/The+Return+of+the+Prodigal+Son.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI8HF7SboeNHLL_r80cEuGK_XJHdbibSJcqY_Gwp9FDxAdM1FWjmzJbjtKhHp1HnD_wSzcKd9EObhplCU_LeDDo4rpvIFojdY-t0Y_I3HaXEsGZbgB8n7BK3I-GXyD4xyWUDHWqAMrtStS/s200/The+Return+of+the+Prodigal+Son.jpg" width="134" /></a>"The Return of the Prodigal Son" by Henri Nouwen<br />
Grade: 4 stars<br />
A beautiful little book that gives you a new appreciation for Rembrandt's famous painting. I didn't find it quite as helpful as the last Nouwen I read, but excellent none the less.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN9DolxHZg1l_zE_81jUnOTRPOzWISc-y-QuNu7JY17IIThf1Bf0ecducXm7OWglIBVGqEn57hsde8pJcLS_WlxxnbHXBfgoM1OvUXPQzBc7Y4sBRy5Wyj8QgjB-uNc8SYiUZyhWq0ErBI/s1600/Shirt+of+Flame.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN9DolxHZg1l_zE_81jUnOTRPOzWISc-y-QuNu7JY17IIThf1Bf0ecducXm7OWglIBVGqEn57hsde8pJcLS_WlxxnbHXBfgoM1OvUXPQzBc7Y4sBRy5Wyj8QgjB-uNc8SYiUZyhWq0ErBI/s200/Shirt+of+Flame.jpg" width="134" /></a>"Shirt of Flame" by Heather King<br />
Grade: 5 stars<br />
Profound and difficult and consoling simultaneously. It came at an absolutely perfect time in my life, and gave me a relationship to St. Therese for which I'll be forever grateful. Also good coming so soon after <i>The Power and the Glory</i>, since King also get the grittiness and paradox and beauty of Catholicism.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe2YaA8DFWwofVOjcBauXx-VDSbxq8RRC51FIF0NX_ge0LzjMc1wBIj5d5AIDxJDaoH8YnWpCXjMF0tsFWBIyjY1-SJzi4mpAq7q76BcuntVp3JiCImEKeTaPzJnhY0kWBWFvosE7T0Ixq/s1600/Paladin+of+Souls.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe2YaA8DFWwofVOjcBauXx-VDSbxq8RRC51FIF0NX_ge0LzjMc1wBIj5d5AIDxJDaoH8YnWpCXjMF0tsFWBIyjY1-SJzi4mpAq7q76BcuntVp3JiCImEKeTaPzJnhY0kWBWFvosE7T0Ixq/s200/Paladin+of+Souls.jpg" width="123" /></a>"Paladin of Souls" by Lois McMaster Bujold<br />
Grade: 3 stars<br />
The gods in this series! With the religion in this series, and how Bujold presents the theist character of Cordelia in the Vorkosigan saga, I can't help but think she's had <i>some</i> experience of Faith. She just seems to <i>get</i> how it works (though the Bastard weirded me out a bit...). The rest of the aspects of this story were good enough, and entertaining, but I think the first book, <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/08/travel-reading-part-7.html">The Curse of Chalion</a>, remains my favourite by a large margin.<br />
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(There are some personal notes below this break. Feel free to skip them; they are pretty unintelligible anyway.)<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
NOTES:<br />
I took tons of notes while reading these books, but I don't have the time or inclination to make them legible or organize them into a longer review. But I still want to remember them without keeping my note paper forever, so I'm writing them down here. They are pretty much just for me, so <b><u>it would probably be best</u></b><u style="font-weight: bold;"> to ignore this section completely</u>. It hardly makes sense to me anymore, let alone you.<br />
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<u>Poustinia:</u><br />
<ul>
<li>Pg. 4: <u>need</u> silence + solitude</li>
<li>Pg. 6: her list of solitudes make me <u>happy</u> not lonely; don't worry about lack of time, God can enter your heart in an instant, take solitudes when you can, we must just be attuned</li>
<li>Pg. 8: silences will start out few and far between, but nourished by mental, liturgical, and sacramental prayer, will grow and stay</li>
<li>Pg. 11 *curtain off part of room for prayer spot*, should make "room of silence" a thing in houses, prayer space for religious (our family's prayer area is too public)</li>
<li>Pg. 14: burning coal on lips of prophet, "As for you, little child, you shall be called a prophet of God the most high", gather courage to speak truth in poustinia</li>
<li>Pg. 19: pilgrims who constantly criss-cross Russia, as a vocation</li>
<li>Pg. 21: their vocation is so attractive, they must go there or die; poustinia is for others, as holocaust; poustinia is climbing of God's mountain</li>
<li>Pg. 25: think she has too much distrust of the mind</li>
<li>Pg. 47: idea for parish priests: just go for walks!</li>
<li>Pg. 52: poustinia is a date with God</li>
<li>Pg. 66: contemplative/active dichotomy artificial if silence in heart (means I can be active without guilt)</li>
<li>Pg. 69: people NOT tired of logic in theology :( Maybe this is a 60s attitude?</li>
<li>Pg. 71: But FIRST thing he did was TEACH, EXPLAIN</li>
<li>Pg. 97: Catherine against the mind again :(</li>
<li>Pg. 104: beautiful on freedom; also 106--whole chapter really, profound</li>
<li>Pg. 110: God gentle, doesn't show us all heart at once</li>
<li>Pg. 113: terminal disease good example</li>
<li>Pg. 116-7: good to remember about speaking for me</li>
<li>Pg. 121: peeling of skin like Eustace (ask Mary because she's gentle)</li>
<li>Pg. 132: The head WILL touch the martyr, prostitute, and publican! She so <u>does</u> seem anti-intellectual, sigh.</li>
<li>Pg. 138: listening to the Trinity in your heart requires <u>effort</u></li>
<li>Pg. 141: it is possible to "listen a person's soul into existence"</li>
<li>Pg. 143: "Christian so mire in the opaqueness of modern theologians' excesses" :(</li>
<li>Pg. 152: the efficiency of bureaucratic charity increases loneliness</li>
<li>Pg. 162: ! 2 Cor. 9:6-12, God loves a cheerful giver!</li>
<li>Pg. 163: "Man felt that he was unimportant", exactly what I feel at MH</li>
<li>Pg. 170: no fire in purgatory, hmmm.... bit like Lewis, but I <u>like</u> the fire of growth</li>
<li>Pg. 189: <u>seems</u> like I can listen and love people without all this extreme poustinik silence stuff</li>
</ul>
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<u>Shirt of Flame:</u><br />
<ul>
<li>The Eliot poem at the beginning is <i>great</i>. I love him.</li>
<li>Pg. xvi: still don't get that "pickup pin for love" thing... It just gets me all scrupulous. Also, don't need take extra suffering, but joyfully participate in small daily ones.</li>
<li>Pg. 7: think about compliments for children... I'm glad my parents didn't tell me I was smart when I was little.</li>
<li>Pg. 7, 11 (prayer): can't save and fix other people</li>
<li>Pg. 10: sensitive types (like me?) shutdown when hurt--"To choose...heart."</li>
<li>Pg. 13: psychological suffering! that's mine!</li>
<li>Pg. 19: yes, confluence of will + grace <u>difficult</u> mystery</li>
<li>Pg. 25: receiving harsh words + reproaches really hard for St. Therese: perfect intercessor!</li>
<li>Pg. 25-6: when gave trouble to loved one, made it <u>worse</u> by crying</li>
<li>Pg. 26: hypersensitivity comes from unimaginably deep hunger for connection? thinking + thinking about people who don't think about you back</li>
<li>Pg. 27-8: find it too scary, right now, to think of not finding people to love who love me</li>
<li>Pg. 31: "walking our own paths while leaving our loved ones to theirs"; lunch date breaking a good example</li>
<li>Pg. 32: giving up misery deprives ego of nourishment (so applicable to me!), old self must be weak/miserable or strong/unselfish</li>
<li>Pg. 35: Therese wants all the vocations! I empathize</li>
<li>Pg. 36-7: loneliness :( scary</li>
<li>Pg. 41: called herself a saint... huh...</li>
<li>Pg. 45: "To reduce our desire is to reduce God"</li>
<li>Pg. 46: <u>good</u> prayer (especially for right now)</li>
<li>Pg. 50: "Chastity...respecting inner timetable..." Chastity meant carrying unresolved tension</li>
<li>Pg. 52-3: loneliness :(</li>
<li>Pg. 54: YES! This is me, so so much--also the prayer</li>
<li>Pg. 70: Therese didn't make penances! (69) take advantage of what comes; refrained from close bonds :(</li>
<li>Pg. 76: we can't be perfect! (But what about "Be perfect"?)</li>
<li>Pg. 81: I don't know if I can do that... :(</li>
<li>Pg. 82: no "right" technique for payer, goal is surrender; don't be afraid of desiring or asking for too much</li>
<li>Pg. 83: result of prayer was more wholeness, closer to reality, sure that everything would be all right in the end</li>
<li>Pg. 84: increasingly able to handle minor setbacks (letting go, not having last word, not swearing)</li>
<li>Pg. 85: loneliness :(</li>
<li>Pg. 86: need undergo not penance or punishment, but purification</li>
<li>Pg. 87: Carl Jung on Transubstantiation??</li>
<li>Pg. 89: she started going to daily Mass <u>without real thought or effort of her own</u>!! (Lord! :) )</li>
<li>Pg. 90-1: PRAYER (don't know how to turn life to You, feel like any move I make is wrong, feel invisible, alone all my life, don't trust You)</li>
<li>Pg. 97: called to refrain from surrounding ourselves with people just like us</li>
<li>Pg. 98: can see how people commit all sins--like me!--I totally get torturers</li>
<li>Pg. 113: we are not intended to succeed; human life is failure</li>
<li>Pg. 120: Corinthians 12, 13: everyone cannot be apostles, etc. I shouldn't fret about not being able to do other people's vocations</li>
<li>Pg. 124: **desire!!!***</li>
<li>Pg. 125: great story of girl and love</li>
<li>Pg. 126: forget trying to achieve your own holiness</li>
<li>Pg. 127: can't be afraid to look foolish; help me not anesthetize</li>
</ul>
REDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11119540412455106441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3722215513883191203.post-40719968822606019252017-01-20T13:19:00.002-08:002017-01-20T13:30:57.189-08:00Travel Reading: Madonna House Part 2The last four months or so, I've been at a farming community in the middle of nowhere (if anything can be called "the middle of nowhere", rural Canada can), with no electronics. It is far too difficult to write up proper reviews in these circumstances, so I'm continuing the Travel Reading series, where I simply write a couple sentences about each book read, and leave it at that. Here goes the second set of three:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiyGoXSUw_KJ0vfiOeIkmdCEL9crUZ6V8_uAWCIUkWlJFBb7ft78s0KAy02NgAAfhxyGx4K2paJPt7ssGuakamYnsuyOnU0h_M3n6yEEsh9MFeenbUIRSuCPPmR3Xcni3jQnA0ehTk4KLz/s1600/Discovering+the+Feminine+Genius.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiyGoXSUw_KJ0vfiOeIkmdCEL9crUZ6V8_uAWCIUkWlJFBb7ft78s0KAy02NgAAfhxyGx4K2paJPt7ssGuakamYnsuyOnU0h_M3n6yEEsh9MFeenbUIRSuCPPmR3Xcni3jQnA0ehTk4KLz/s200/Discovering+the+Feminine+Genius.jpg" width="136" /></a>"Discovering the Feminine Genius" by Katrina J. Zeno<br />
Grade: 2 1/2 stars<br />
It was a little simplistic for where I'm at right now--or perhaps it's complex enough but just made for a different sort of person? Despite the fact that she and I have a fairly similar background in some ways (Catholic upbringing, down to the playing spoons till midnight). Most of the book didn't seem to relate to me or be that helpful. Yet... a few key points in it were the starting off points for some major growth these last few months, so I can't help but recommend it.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc-k3-igkuc_PKHYdDn1fTsiDPl-S1vRVf34-QzeUR9LwbsYZH_OF9KavmI_OAy2HkPge5M7HfOVvIdLxSlAoPwEvsw1RNKO78GftzwTUpTe-kbnnTKVDVCe3vBDqssDd4-rXWBU0X5E_4/s1600/Wild+Seed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc-k3-igkuc_PKHYdDn1fTsiDPl-S1vRVf34-QzeUR9LwbsYZH_OF9KavmI_OAy2HkPge5M7HfOVvIdLxSlAoPwEvsw1RNKO78GftzwTUpTe-kbnnTKVDVCe3vBDqssDd4-rXWBU0X5E_4/s200/Wild+Seed.jpg" width="120" /></a>"Wild Seed" by Octavia Butler<br />
Grade: 4 stars<br />
A fairly different feel to this book than what I'm used to. Quite intensely personal for a speculative fiction book, without being overly emotional or having that "literary fiction" style that isn't my thing. Don't really know what else to say about this book, but it was good stuff. Hopefully I'll get to more Butler soon.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVDNrRVSDGdtXQ2rcctnStOd08XbTkpzWzh5aax451xOHMVX5aSBfSi3800YTFJUsgHpY6_Kas5D3tHFGQQ7QhPXfqy71TYrQw4liXz4nuVS23Z10RNNFK8uMnebyyUx3_Pdo8m7-VSCiz/s1600/Spiritual+Formation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVDNrRVSDGdtXQ2rcctnStOd08XbTkpzWzh5aax451xOHMVX5aSBfSi3800YTFJUsgHpY6_Kas5D3tHFGQQ7QhPXfqy71TYrQw4liXz4nuVS23Z10RNNFK8uMnebyyUx3_Pdo8m7-VSCiz/s200/Spiritual+Formation.jpg" width="130" /></a>"Spiritual Formation" by Henri Nouwen<br />
Grade: 4 1/2 stars<br />
This book helped me a <u>lot</u>. Nouwen has such insight into the human journey. Also there are some cool new ideas to try for me, like "Visual Divinia". I just wish I'd gotten around to studying my notes (found below) properly when the book was still in my possession and fresh in my mind...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibH3fNDEPIZABgX_xXRrhRr3k9h_xfataXCQhL7Gcp1n5RUiILK7RvLQky9EthScySSrfExKqhQVikINwB6YL0aiheZU-F_KLX9iOdvWk_PZ9TO26HTZHzHJqk9dpMdLZ27rx_APLhEYnF/s1600/Fortress+in+the+Eye+of+Time.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibH3fNDEPIZABgX_xXRrhRr3k9h_xfataXCQhL7Gcp1n5RUiILK7RvLQky9EthScySSrfExKqhQVikINwB6YL0aiheZU-F_KLX9iOdvWk_PZ9TO26HTZHzHJqk9dpMdLZ27rx_APLhEYnF/s200/Fortress+in+the+Eye+of+Time.jpg" width="121" /></a>"Fortress in the Eye of Time" by C. J. Cherryh<br />
Grade: 3 1/2 stars<br />
Entertaining and atmospheric with some great relationships of all sorts. The central friendship was my favourite (Tristen and Cefwyn), but there was a small element of romance that was really great too (Cefwyn and .... I forget her name). The Tristen & Mauryl and Cefwyn & Idrys (Master Crow!) relationships were also great. The main issue is that it wasn't quite gripping enough to make me seek out the sequels immediately, and I'm going to forget the myriad names and world-building details that are necessary to understand even a little bit of what's going on. Cherryh is <i>not</i> someone who explains things unnecessarily--one of my favourite things about her, but still, it's going to make this difficult...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVDpubTzTLJsoMB2rkudMVPIly1ry8nApTc3UvkaD9EDCRrX_XGJixJFxy28-MMAU7p4OGWoFTJkVDZtGdZGQ6ZDJOZ6U19RhTCAJr42XurVbfE1j8lkpHN-vu79MdahBYUaa0ks5Rtz8t/s1600/The+Psalms+Are+Our+Prayers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVDpubTzTLJsoMB2rkudMVPIly1ry8nApTc3UvkaD9EDCRrX_XGJixJFxy28-MMAU7p4OGWoFTJkVDZtGdZGQ6ZDJOZ6U19RhTCAJr42XurVbfE1j8lkpHN-vu79MdahBYUaa0ks5Rtz8t/s1600/The+Psalms+Are+Our+Prayers.jpg" /></a>"The Psalms Are Our Prayers" by Albert Gelin<br />
Grade: 3 stars<br />
If I hadn't read <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/05/the-case-for-psalms.html">The Case for the Psalms</a> by N. T. Wright earlier in the year and loved it, I might have been more impressed by this. As it was, it was good but not particularly new or striking. I also found the style a bit disconcerting--perhaps it was the translation? My spiritual director recommended this book and this author, though, so I'd like to try another book by him at some point.<br />
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(There are some personal notes below this break. Feel free to skip them; they are pretty unintelligible anyway.)<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
NOTES:<br />
I took tons of notes while reading these books, but I don't have the time or inclination to make them legible or organize them into a longer review. But I still want to remember them without keeping my note paper forever, so I'm writing them down here. They are pretty much just for me, so <b><u>it would probably be best</u></b><u style="font-weight: bold;"> to ignore this section completely</u>. It hardly makes sense to me anymore, let alone you.<br />
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<u>Discovering the Feminine Genius</u>:<br />
<ul>
<li>pg. 20: not "waiting for man", since scared of marriage, but waiting for purpose? adventure? but also actively trying to find it</li>
<li>pg. 37: pray to be willing--YES!</li>
<li>pg. 38: ok, actually like definition of spiritual motherhood here</li>
<li>pg. 45: ok, but doesn't this mean a woman will automatically use her gift if she is holy? So what does that mean for <u>me</u>? Do I have to think about it or not?</li>
<li>pg. 51: Satan <i>is</i> targetting my body, but with food and laziness--i.e. getting fit <i>is</i> meaningful spiritually! (see Houselander's spiritual recommendations) But I'm not totally sure my desire to be fit is ordered... maybe thus broken ankles?</li>
<li>pg. 55: "created for emotionally intimate friendships" else shrivel. Yeah... though retreat, not soak up male attention, in fact <u>dislike</u> male attention often cause it's not the intimacy I'm looking for.</li>
<li>pg. 60: But where is the line between needing things for health?</li>
<li>pg. 61: "head in a jar"</li>
<li>pg. 65: Don't have most problems but DO just "tolerate"</li>
<li>pg. 79: "running on empty", "emotional interior is dry"--realizing how important this IS to me</li>
<li>pg. 80: need conversation in order to "be a reservoir"</li>
<li>pg. 81: be creative about finding ways to replenish</li>
<li>pg. 82: checklist is good day mentality</li>
<li>pg. 84: Saint Symeon</li>
<li>pg. 91: broken heart stuff like me after JP; it was <i>good</i>, but excruciating</li>
<li>pg. 93: yeah, JP opened a need to belong in me too, although I"m not entirely sure it was actually present before; but... "I belong to Christ" isn't tangible, and I don't understand it...</li>
<li>pg. 96: pain had warmth</li>
<li>pg. 99: detachment + freedom + new things!!</li>
<li>pg. 100: "God always acts for the purpose of union". Hmmmmm, not sure if this is helpful to me.</li>
<li>pg. 111: JP II's <i>Dies Domini</i> (on keeping the Lord's Day holy), other suggestions in #8</li>
<li>pg. 122: men retreating like Adam retreating!</li>
<li>pg. 127: men fulfilled in <u>sacrifice</u> (priestly)</li>
<li>pg. 147: Hamlet might be <i>cool</i> as a woman, though; different does not mean inappropriate</li>
<li>pg. 153: "without mission depressed"--yes! me.</li>
</ul>
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<u>Spiritual Formation</u><br />
<ul>
<li>(Pg. xxi-ii: lectio divinia, silence, community, service)</li>
<li>Pg. xxii: mood of resignation</li>
<li>Pg. xxv: Silence yes, but what about Word?</li>
<li>Pg. xxviii: COMMUNITY--silence too</li>
<li>Pg. 26: s/prayer, we forget God is present, PRAYER IMPORTANT</li>
<li>Pg. 28: persistent desire and daily practice</li>
<li>Pg. 30-2: prayer pointers: first silence (w/friend!); focus mind on scripture (don't analyze :( ); take little bit, repeat 10 mins; "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of David, have mercy on me a sinner"; feel free to be public, tell people this time is set aside</li>
<li>"Sorrow": have hardly experienced <u>any</u>; past boyfriend experience only thing I can think of where I experienced all this</li>
<li>Pg. 42: top: "I will not say 'Do not weep' ..."; "right in the middle of that"</li>
<li>Pg. 43: rely on Jesus not stoicism</li>
<li>Pg. 54: keep record of for sorrow->joy in future; GREAT!</li>
<li>"Resentment" Pg. 59: "frustration...emotion" but can't totally! <u>want</u> to be grateful...</li>
<li>Pg. 60: also want to help other a <u>lot</u> especially if as common as suggested</li>
<li>Pg. 61: "sham of Eucharist without thanksgiving"</li>
<li>Pg. 63: "more in touch need healing" bad :(</li>
<li>Pg. 63 continued: "True liberation ... prevented giving gifts" individualism! :)</li>
<li>Pg. 64: my gift is receiving</li>
<li>Pg. 66: interruptions are God's hand "Inconvenience/Adventure"; inner voice of love quote good</li>
<li>Pg. 67: All Is Grace</li>
<li>"Fear" Pg. 74-5: Yes! pervasive, individually + communally, not always aware of it, subtle</li>
<li>Pg. 76: Northern fear vs. Southern suffering (knew, but not specifically cause of <u>fear</u>); "psychological compatibility" ...sigh... have fear here</li>
<li>This chapter is where I'm at now!</li>
<li>Pg. 79: "Moving..." totally, totally me</li>
<li>(Pg. 81: will struggle, but every time open yourself to God's presence)</li>
<li>Pg. 82: fascinating view on reform, focusing on peace (83 New Jerusalem)</li>
<li>Whole chapter GREAT, came just after I realized this whole thing already</li>
<li>"Exclusion" Pg. 90: Giving anyway rule against judging; also, may still have same effect! people feel <u>good</u> about people like that; also, mostly our pride, not wanting to have people thing "that fool..." (i.e. it's FEAR)</li>
<li>Pg. 93: I'm getting there... (Marianne would like)</li>
<li>Pg. 96: "To be intimate with God I need to come home to my body, where God is pleased to dwell." Validation of desire to lose weight or the opposite?</li>
<li>"Denying Death" Pg. 107: people think befriending death means it'll come sooner, that we're giving up the fight</li>
<li>Strongly relate to chapter on Fear, the feeling I get when befriending death is much like that of removing smaller fears, and fears of the future</li>
<li>Pg. 110: "In you, God is well pleased"</li>
<li>(Pg. 112-3: little child)</li>
<li>(Pg. 114-5: interesting experience w/people's desire for the Communion of Saints)</li>
<li>Pg 116: <u>great</u> prayer</li>
</ul>
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<div>
<u>The Psalms Are Our Prayers:</u></div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>pg. 14: paradoxes (antimonies)</li>
<li>pg. 16: Ps 38:10 exactly what I feel!</li>
<li>pg. 18: psalmist Pharisee-in, but has something to tell us "They have faith, they stake everything on Yahweh"</li>
<li>pg. 24: some of his phrasing confuses me... "It's praying"....</li>
<li>pg. 25: "see" in Bible means relationship of proximity</li>
<li>pg. 26: Ps. 27 has mountains shouting, my favourite</li>
<li>pg. 28-9: history lives through worship (liturgy) is "re-actualized"</li>
<li>pg. 39: Faith: "obscure certitude, trust, security, and self-abandonment", interconectedness between Faith and Hope</li>
<li>pg. 40: to find God, don't need "escape" (I was thinking Eastern religions), God <u>invades</u></li>
<li>pg. 41: psalms of interior life, soul alone with God, NOT the most numerous</li>
<li>pg. 43-4: fascinating parallel between fortellings of Messianic era bliss, and Christ's temptations in the desert</li>
<li>pg. 53: Paul urges pray <u>with</u> Christ, not <u>to</u> Christ</li>
<li>Ps. 15: against idolatry</li>
<li>Ps. 23: for pilgrims</li>
<li>Ps. 28: revelation of God through storm</li>
<li>Ps. 50: penitential in exile (and rich!)</li>
<li>Ps. 72: overcomes intellectual (emotional?) distress</li>
<li>Ps. 73: hope is purified of imperfections (false hopes of victory, etc.), this psalm is reaction to this trail</li>
<li>Ps. 86: idea of Israel expanded</li>
<li>Ps. 94: for pilgrims; recreating history; renewal of focus toward goal and hope, not absorption in (?immediate?)</li>
<li>Ps. 97: sung at Passover</li>
<li>Ps. 106: sailors in exile</li>
<li>Ps. 109: God talks to the Messiah</li>
<li>Ps. 117: caravaneer in exile</li>
</ul>
</div>
REDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11119540412455106441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3722215513883191203.post-25843887926350431752017-01-08T11:00:00.001-08:002017-01-20T10:57:33.898-08:00Travel Reading: Madonna House Part 1After my trip home to BC, I went to a farming community in the middle of nowhere (if anything can be called "the middle of nowhere", rural Canada can), with no electronics. It is far too difficult to write up proper reviews in these circumstances, so I'm continuing the Travel Reading series, where I simply write a couple sentences about each book read, and leave it at that. Here goes the first set of three:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzoicoYecBKCCZqY9sq9Kftroxror8oLZgzkFJZZdsgEx5vhF1CB7-EZaY0KumHVR3R1pZcZcwr9uhJaDX7dB6wcBmKltE0guR3qvqikJfiyQu4RKFj9v02gB9fYohDL-QDiE9UZdCK1Mf/s1600/The+Man+in+the+Queue.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzoicoYecBKCCZqY9sq9Kftroxror8oLZgzkFJZZdsgEx5vhF1CB7-EZaY0KumHVR3R1pZcZcwr9uhJaDX7dB6wcBmKltE0guR3qvqikJfiyQu4RKFj9v02gB9fYohDL-QDiE9UZdCK1Mf/s200/The+Man+in+the+Queue.jpg" width="130" /></a>"The Man in the Queue" by Josephine Tey<br />
Grade: 3 stars<br />
Entertaining Golden Age British mystery story, with some delightful but spoilery twists on the usual outcomes of such mysteries. I didn't enjoy this as much as some of Tey's other works, though. Her tendency towards atmospheric description I found a little more boring, rather than breathtaking and claustrophobic, as in <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2010/06/singing-sands.html">The Singing Sands</a>, or than entertaining and intriguing, as in <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/03/miss-pym-disposes.html">Miss Pym Disposes</a>. And although I loved to a surprising degree some of the secondary characters ([Raoul Legarde, Miss Dinmont, even Ray Marcable--Tey really has a strength with fascinating characters you want to know more about), they weren't as impactful as MPD, <i>The Daughter of Time</i>, or <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/05/the-franchise-affair.html">The Franchise Affair</a>. In general, it seemed a little less well written. But it <i>was</i> her first book, after all.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglyfeYpiiSckws8DhocB-O2uOIE0Z0EVb5WX7NaFw9TrW88iHc4Sn9DAQYMeSi7MmKXkocZPRpxx76F2AREWvcp4wXzwAGdzPDGmacWy5zgPsW-kErVd_s_anBhZJsJ_hyphenhyphenlZq40pkfZrnD/s1600/The+Paladin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglyfeYpiiSckws8DhocB-O2uOIE0Z0EVb5WX7NaFw9TrW88iHc4Sn9DAQYMeSi7MmKXkocZPRpxx76F2AREWvcp4wXzwAGdzPDGmacWy5zgPsW-kErVd_s_anBhZJsJ_hyphenhyphenlZq40pkfZrnD/s200/The+Paladin.jpg" width="126" /></a></div>
"The Paladin" by C. J. Cherryh<br />
Grade: 2 1/2 stars<br />
Retired general in east Asian inspired land reluctantly takes on a young and passionate-for-revenge girl as a student. The ending felt a bit rushed, and there was too much emphasis on how much the older guy wanted to sleep with his student. Cherryh is <i>great</i> at a properly limited third person view, but in this case I would have liked the romance better if it had more of the girl's perspective. Especially because it was so much more central than expected. It didn't throw me off Cherryh, though. I found her writing both excellent and entertaining, and I'm looking forward to reading her more well-known works.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfDeO5NuahOu2w72OwkIkkqJxG02frehBRH6CDTvRhl5SqItDNaUV05Vd8Md3_TqSCio7JGPy8ljD7ggI3LUFiWLuKRSUv1lk-B7DX-kse7OVdziMzoA3UsdGPUnr_NRIK877mP7lABiTk/s1600/Lost+in+the+Labyrinth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfDeO5NuahOu2w72OwkIkkqJxG02frehBRH6CDTvRhl5SqItDNaUV05Vd8Md3_TqSCio7JGPy8ljD7ggI3LUFiWLuKRSUv1lk-B7DX-kse7OVdziMzoA3UsdGPUnr_NRIK877mP7lABiTk/s200/Lost+in+the+Labyrinth.jpg" width="125" /></a>"Lost in the Labyrinth" by Patrice Kindl<br />
Grade: 2 stars<br />
Retelling of the Minotaur story. I think it is too young for me at this point in my life, and I didn't find it as unique as some of her other books, so not my favourite read of the year. It would be good for teaching kids about myths though, I think.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLmWZgQqSPNFbyXlL3b4tVJ15aRpYV7XhRT-FlbLpNuPB7IN38SG_TjLV6NV5L9v0JREUti0o2w2RY9qbrJAUB9KRp62zXhdzi25fTIYdi2z56qC58WxWjTWsPpDIteh3tmFNB0Qi7joRX/s1600/Speaker+for+the+Dead.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLmWZgQqSPNFbyXlL3b4tVJ15aRpYV7XhRT-FlbLpNuPB7IN38SG_TjLV6NV5L9v0JREUti0o2w2RY9qbrJAUB9KRp62zXhdzi25fTIYdi2z56qC58WxWjTWsPpDIteh3tmFNB0Qi7joRX/s200/Speaker+for+the+Dead.jpg" width="130" /></a>"Speaker for the Dead" by Orson Scott Card<br />
Grade: 3 stars<br />
Had a bunch of notes on this, but I lost them. Will update this if I find them. It was too long ago to remember most of what I thought, but it wasn't as good as I was hoping. Still good, though.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqp4_3qmnVQfGmBXPQsOT045WTRBI3b5cSWcEXHLgxFD7L2j09XyAHCav6k_WI_2LsUhfA3ytuq8pxFVkdefBYlUDWlNR2udBBPHwwNU6UVDB4mRj18bcy2nPUyFeNmIE8DU_e85Xoay4F/s1600/A+Confusion+of+Princes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqp4_3qmnVQfGmBXPQsOT045WTRBI3b5cSWcEXHLgxFD7L2j09XyAHCav6k_WI_2LsUhfA3ytuq8pxFVkdefBYlUDWlNR2udBBPHwwNU6UVDB4mRj18bcy2nPUyFeNmIE8DU_e85Xoay4F/s200/A+Confusion+of+Princes.jpg" width="132" /></a></div>
"A Confusion of Princes" by Garth Nix<br />
Grade: 2 1/2 stars<br />
The first half was pretty cool because of Nix's worldbuilding (which he always does awesomely), of the scifi future-y sort, and his secondary characters, of the distinct and memorable sort. But the second half, with the romantic relationship and the sudden resolution seemed a bit simplistic. Also, why is Khenri so special? He didn't strike me as being particularly special... The characterization could have used a bit of work, think. Anyway, ultimately it was fun but too light.REDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11119540412455106441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3722215513883191203.post-39831944325189896512016-08-26T13:51:00.001-07:002017-01-20T10:57:01.057-08:00Travel Reading: BC SummerIt is far too difficult to write up proper reviews when I've been away from regular internet access for extended periods of time. Thus I started this Travel Reading series, where I simply write a couple sentences about each book read, and leave it at that. So from a trip home to my family and friends in BC comes the following:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXWKaPQ_IAecdMK_9Kx2JXd21uIHvGNqvhb3GeswTtYBfiAIDmVRtJw1Z_s_Wgy7xXir0eGEAWvfEpU7sIKumDoz9D0GagdoXxb4FifwJNDCjj9RoQvLEDglXDZVizVlP3Tm-2gy9T40pv/s1600/Owl+in+Love.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXWKaPQ_IAecdMK_9Kx2JXd21uIHvGNqvhb3GeswTtYBfiAIDmVRtJw1Z_s_Wgy7xXir0eGEAWvfEpU7sIKumDoz9D0GagdoXxb4FifwJNDCjj9RoQvLEDglXDZVizVlP3Tm-2gy9T40pv/s200/Owl+in+Love.jpg" width="142" /></a></div>
"Owl in Love" by Patrice Kindl<br />
Grade: 3 stars<br />
Strange little book, which seems to be Kindl's style. I like her best in fairy tale land, where strangeness doesn't seem unusual (<a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2013/08/travel-reading-part-4.html">Goose Chase</a> made me very happy). But this one was surprisingly entertaining. The strangeness was less disconcerting than in <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/03/the-woman-in-wall.html">The Woman in the Wall</a>. Owl's voice is unique, even from Kindl's other heroines; her inhuman-ness was treated well. And I still want to read every one of the rest of her books, if only for curiosity's sake. 2 1/2 stars because I think it was a little young for me, but then an extra 1/2 star for the fact that I couldn't really stop reading it.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk8tXTptntnbT8p2FiUQ7oWVSpDM8OljbwEeSUrPdZl6CeZt94MqNf_Mc0IO4y5hOo64yWPep0vQYE9KgyXbZ5PqyBeBptb_Lq4Eenf5__V1_7Wkjbo4davzdhjAAoL1GTcq6XRmnQ6xQt/s1600/A+Coalition+of+Lions.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk8tXTptntnbT8p2FiUQ7oWVSpDM8OljbwEeSUrPdZl6CeZt94MqNf_Mc0IO4y5hOo64yWPep0vQYE9KgyXbZ5PqyBeBptb_Lq4Eenf5__V1_7Wkjbo4davzdhjAAoL1GTcq6XRmnQ6xQt/s200/A+Coalition+of+Lions.jpg" width="121" /></a><br />
"A Coalition of Lions" by Elizabeth Wein<br />
Grade: 3 stars<br />
A sequel to the Arthurian retelling <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2012/03/winter-prince.html">The Winter Prince</a>, but not nearly as heart-wrenching and impactful. I still enjoyed it, especially in the enormous potential for a favourite new character that was young Telemakos (the future books follow him as a protagonist). The setting and politics were cool as well. But it felt too short, and like some of the relationships (especially Priamos and Goewin) and characters needed more background and build up.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhurBD4Tn7NI4CicctTss9mMVXiX1yqqvHq-DQf88X7H4TD5460HP-uCfUXxZgUbyrwMHxvD3g3IT2DrsWt91P421DZLO_mBhEqu9TgVHwqJvKPrW2AEc4_cRf00S1hRPBZZiOKQcKNrbn8/s1600/Port+Eternity.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhurBD4Tn7NI4CicctTss9mMVXiX1yqqvHq-DQf88X7H4TD5460HP-uCfUXxZgUbyrwMHxvD3g3IT2DrsWt91P421DZLO_mBhEqu9TgVHwqJvKPrW2AEc4_cRf00S1hRPBZZiOKQcKNrbn8/s200/Port+Eternity.jpg" width="117" /></a><br />
"Port Eternity" by C. J. Cherryh<br />
Grade: 2 1/2 stars<br />
Not as good as the other Cherryh I read (<a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/08/cuckoos-egg.html">Cuckoo's Egg</a>) but that was expected. I'd read reviews beforehand that indicated this. I only read it as my next Cherryh because it was an Arthurian retelling of sorts, and I've been on a bit of an Arthurian kick recently (see <i>A Coalition of Lions</i> above and the <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/04/top-ten-or-so-arthurian-retellings.html">Top Ten (Or So): Arthurian Retellings</a> list). I think I would have preferred even more character development, though maybe that wouldn't be possible with the kind of characters these "people" were. Or maybe what I wanted was more action... It happened at the end, but there seemed to be a big, slow build up to some large character explosion, and that never happened as much as I expected. The mythic, idyllic ending seemd to suit more conflict and events than actually happened.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmEgsjFO8Q2mrGuccb0VGUjg1-E-xvcMZc8y6PCuuI_GEP064p0Cl_FRvt0ixh4tlmlFl9FVF8nx8VHmw8TM_efhYtepQGJUMziazQPNIEBlN1LpFUVhhf6YGX9iVsF6hRVEoNkmTbO-mG/s1600/The+Curse+of+Chalion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmEgsjFO8Q2mrGuccb0VGUjg1-E-xvcMZc8y6PCuuI_GEP064p0Cl_FRvt0ixh4tlmlFl9FVF8nx8VHmw8TM_efhYtepQGJUMziazQPNIEBlN1LpFUVhhf6YGX9iVsF6hRVEoNkmTbO-mG/s200/The+Curse+of+Chalion.jpg" width="125" /></a><br />
"The Curse of Chalion" by Lois McMaster Bujold<br />
Grade: 3 1/2 stars<br />
It was a little slow to start out with, but once I got far enough through, the Bujold-ness showed up, especially with the main character, Cazaril. The interaction between gods and men was great. There are certain elements of theism that Bujold seems to understand much better than most people (this also showed up in the <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2013/08/travel-reading-part-4.html">Vorkosigan saga</a> with Cordelia's beliefs).<br />
Note: everything about this edition (the back cover text, the inside cover picture) indicates there's a cliched main romance, which there isn't. Just putting that out there because it turned me off for a while.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidxM3rWuRJqxiPLbTjxoo3u-Gl18JDQPqYL3F6dpvgVE2ReDTnXftfB6PZx193MPHg1Z6k0CVEXA6Zot7VkyBmwDUwGlewzdF_4ao5wwFGFx_AKMsufJnbJW04n-c3h2cyfbeC5Hugj5bd/s1600/Tomorrow+When+the+War+Began.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidxM3rWuRJqxiPLbTjxoo3u-Gl18JDQPqYL3F6dpvgVE2ReDTnXftfB6PZx193MPHg1Z6k0CVEXA6Zot7VkyBmwDUwGlewzdF_4ao5wwFGFx_AKMsufJnbJW04n-c3h2cyfbeC5Hugj5bd/s200/Tomorrow+When+the+War+Began.jpg" width="132" /></a>"Tomorrow When the War Began" by John Marsden<br />
Grade: 3 1/2 stars<br />
I appreciated the realism of this YA post-apocalyptic Australian survival story. The teens seemed to me to act and think much like real teens. There was even a religious (not just "spiritual") girl who wasn't stupid <i>or</i> puritanical! That was hugely refreshing. The Australian element also gave it a bit of exciting exoticism for me as a Canadian. I think I'd like to read the sequels, once I come back from my travels and adventures and start a normal life again. It won't be <i>that</i> high on my list, since I didn't become passionate about any particular element. But it was a great and exciting and highly readable start to a series, and I'd recommend it to people who were mature enough for the small amount of sexual content.<br />
<br />REDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11119540412455106441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3722215513883191203.post-54282296592049915242016-08-26T13:47:00.001-07:002016-08-26T13:47:20.924-07:00Romeo and/or Julietby Ryan North<br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Story summary:</u> Two households, both alike in dignity... an ancient grudge and parent's strife... a pair of star-cross'd lovers... a battle with giant robots...<br />
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<b><u>Why You Will Like This Book:</u></b><br />
<ul>
<li>It's <i>so funny</i>.</li>
<li>The clever Shakespeare references!</li>
<li>The clever geek references!</li>
<li>It's <i>Romeo and Juliet</i> as a <i>choose-your-own-adventure.</i> How much more awesome can you get?*</li>
</ul>
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<b><u>And Why You Might Not:</u></b></div>
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<ul>
<li>Some Christians could be bothered by some of the dislike of marriage that appears. It's not all like this, but there's enough that it's not just a passing remark one can ignore easily.</li>
<li>If your sense of humour isn't the sort of self-referential nerdiness often seen on the Internet and such places, you're likely not going to get much out of this. (On the other hand, if it's not your thing, maybe this would the perfect introduction to just <i>how</i> funny it can be!)</li>
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Thoughts:</u> I love, love, love this sort of book. It's not deep or profound and sometimes the author misunderstands Shakespeare (perhaps on purpose), but it's <i>clever</i> and it's hilarious in <i>just</i> the right way for me. It's meta; it's geeky; it's full of Internet humour; it has clever and hilarious artwork as well, from artists I actually recognize from online. There is nothing like being able to end your story as a muscular, pirate version of Juliet Capulet.<br />
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Though in comparison to the first book like this North created, <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2014/02/to-be-or-not-to-be-choosable-path.html">To Be or Not to Be</a>, I didn't like it <i>quite</i> as much. Mostly because the artwork wasn't as prominent this time around. Also because I liked Ophelia as a heroine much better than Juliet. Science beats muscles, almost always. (Though they were actually fairly similar in some "strong female heroine" ways. They can both have tendencies towards extreme murder, for instance. Some day North should write a heroine who is sweet and gentle, just for contrast.)<br />
I was also a bit bothered by what seemed to be a disdain for marriage. True, one shouldn't go about it the way Romeo and Juliet did, but it's a very, very good thing in itself. Fortunately, as I progressed, there seemed to be more "marriage can actually be great!" endings. (#49 is one of the nicest.) There was even a bit of a defense on <i>rash</i> marriage (#187)!<br />
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But despite these criticisms, it was still hilarious and awesome! I recommend it! (I mean, any book that has "Take revenge on the ninjas" as an option has <i>got</i> to be awesome, right?)<br />
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Random note time. A bit spoiler-y perhaps. Read at your own risk.<br />
<ul>
<li>There seems to be one minor character in both his books that he just makes so darn sympathetic that I wish the whole book was about them. In <i>To Be or Not to Be</i> it was Horatio, in this one, it's Benvolio (espeically in #48--d'awwwww).</li>
<li>The ending where EVERYONE IS GOTH. (#153) Or where Romeo LITERALLY dies an Old Maid (#95). Or the one with the horses... (#259) I can't even with that one.</li>
<li>"You're going to love each other so fiercely, Romeo, so completely. Your two houses will have no choice but to start liking each other, because you and Juliet won't accept anything less. You're going to be the change you want to see in the world, and you're going to do it all by loving this woman with everything you've got and by her loving you just as hard in return. Ready, Romeo? Here goes." (#174) Every once in a while, I find Ryan North very inspiring, and though I don't think that happens as often as he means it to happen, it did indeed happen this time.</li>
<li>The whole "raising your hand" joke that runs through the book is hilarious each and every single time. Never gets old, imho. (#209 is one of the best, with the shushing and all.)</li>
<li>#252 has very bad religious reasoning, which might be there simply to be funny and because Juliet is obviously being irrational here. But I get the feeling so often for these things that people actually thing this is a reasonable argument against religion. So it bugs me.</li>
<li>The "Twelfth Night" reference! (#265) TN is one of my favourite Shakespeares, and this makes me really wish Ryan North would write his next Choose Your Own Adventure on Twelfth Night. So many possibilities!</li>
<li>The whole bonus character of Rosaline with the gritty, noir detective theme was super fun. I was a little disappointed when I thought she was gay (#287), because Ryan North has most of his female character be at least bi, it seems, and yet never seems to emphasize that <i>not</i> having lots of sex can be a good choice too. He even made fun of the choice of remaining single and celibate by saying she "made up some garbage about being sworn to chastity". But then it turned out her one female love was The Truth! I was so happy! A female detective whose great love is The Truth! You don't come across that often.</li>
<li>The part where he finally got to the Romeo AND Juliet (#353) was SO great. And then the ending on #466...The picture on the next page just makes it extra, <i>extra</i> funny. It's also interesting when you realize then that the whole book previously had been missing a key element of the title.</li>
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Grade:</u> 4 1/2 stars</div>
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<b><u>If You Like This, You Might Also Like:</u></b></div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Of course <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2014/02/to-be-or-not-to-be-choosable-path.html">To Be or Not to Be</a> by Ryan North, his first choose-your-own-adventure Shakespeare book, because it's <i>brilliant</i> and I <i>love it</i>.</li>
<li><i>Lost in Austen</i> by Emma Campbell Webster: Because it's another great choose-your-own-adventure. Not as funny or clever or fun as TBoNtB or Ra/oJ, but amusing none-the-less.</li>
<li><i>Unseen Academicals</i> by Terry Pratchett: Because it's a great addition to the Discworld series, and has tons of Romeo and Juliet references. (I wouldn't necessarily read it if I hadn't read Pratchett before, though.)</li>
<li><a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2012/01/warm-bodies.html">Warm Bodies</a> by Isaac Marion: Because it has Romeo and Juliet references as well, and it's quite a bit more beautiful and interesting than I would have guessed from the synopsis. Also the movie is hilarious and surprisingly good.</li>
<li>For some other unique and unusual retellings of Shakespeare that I love: "The Taming of the Shrew" from the "Shakespeare Retold" BBC series: it's Shirley Henderson and Rufus Sewell, can't get much better; "Rosencratnz and Guildenstern Are Dead", both the movie and the play by Tom Stoppard: Hamlet has never been so funny, philosophical, and meta; "Nothing Much to Do" the webseries retelling of "Much Ado About Nothing": it's definitely an amateur production, but if you're willing to sit through lesser quality, this retelling of "Much Ado About Nothing" is great and also super Kiwi.</li>
<li>And while you're at it, why not watch some of the Master undiluted? My favourite Shakespeare adaptions are probably Kenneth Branagh's <i>Henry V</i> and <i>Much Ado About Nothing</i>, Trevor Nunn's <i>Twelfth Night</i>, and <i>Richard II </i>from the "Hollow Crown" series (haven't seen any of the rest of it yet, so can only recommend that one, but it was great).</li>
</ul>
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* There's an answer to that. You could get <i>Hamlet</i> as a <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2014/02/to-be-or-not-to-be-choosable-path.html">choose-your-own-adventure</a>. It's the only thing more awesome.</div>
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REDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11119540412455106441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3722215513883191203.post-26484896810691270412016-08-05T13:28:00.000-07:002016-08-05T13:28:53.620-07:00Cuckoo's Eggby C. J. Cherryh<br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Story summary:</u> Summary from <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/126490.Cuckoo_s_Egg">Goodreads</a>:<br />
"They named him Thorn. They told him he was of their people, although he was so different. He was ugly in their eyes, strange, sleek-skinned instead of furred, clawless, different. Yet he was of their power class: judge-warriors, the elite, the fighters, the defenders.<br />
Thorn knew that his difference was somehow very important - but not important enough to prevent murderous conspiracies against him, against his protector, against his castle, and perhaps against the peace of the world. But when the crunch came, when Thorn finally learned what his true role in life was to be, that on him might hang the future of two worlds, then he had to stand alone to justify his very existence."<br />
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<b><u>Why You Will Like This Book:</u></b><br />
<ul>
<li>Humanity from an alien viewpoint.</li>
<li>The characters, the politics, the writing, ahhhhhh, so good.</li>
<li>Father-son relationship.</li>
<li>It's a fairly short book and a stand-alone, so it seems like a pretty good introduction to this author's work. (I haven't read anything else by her, though, so this is pure conjecture.)</li>
</ul>
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<b><u>And Why You Might Not:</u></b></div>
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<ul>
<li>Not everything is explained simply, not every explanation is given to you straightly.</li>
<li>The ending is a little open, in some ways. I think it's perfect and suits the tone of the rest of the story and it doesn't feel unresolved, but I think it could be found bothersome by some people.</li>
</ul>
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Thoughts:</u> <i>This</i> is what I was looking for, in all those many books I've read recently that just didn't quite hit the depth and complexity I wanted. This I think finally drove home the fact that I've outgrown YA, at least for the present time.* (Though it's not like I'm going to stop reading it, I'll just focus more on stuff I'm more likely enjoy.)</div>
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And here, for a little fangirling, are all the things I loved:<br />
<ul>
<li>The subtly of the language. The thoughts in parentheses especially.</li>
<li>Hints of grand political maneuvers in a very personal story. (I'm eager to read her books where the politics are more explicit and central, which is apparently quite a number of them.)</li>
<li>Training!!! I always love training montages, and it makes me really want to learn all those things myself, and just be <i>awesome</i>.</li>
<li>The father-son relationship at the heart of the book--but with complexity!</li>
<li>And though I've always hated books that don't give you enough information to figure things out (I still remember how annoyed I was by Chesterton when I couldn't figure out the end of <i>The Flying Inn</i>. That was probably my fault, though, not his.), this seems to be the perfect balance of making you work for it and giving exposition. Or maybe I'm just smarter now than when I used to be confused by books.</li>
</ul>
Wheeeeeee, new author! So many new books to be excited about! Apparently Cherryh's specialty is hard sociological scifi and realistic aliens, and I'm <i>so excited</i>. So many new thoughts on the meaning of humanity to ponder! So many ideas about aliens to dream up!</div>
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Grade:</u> 4 1/2 stars**</div>
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<b><u>If You Like This, You Might Also Like:</u></b></div>
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<ul>
<li><a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2010/05/enders-game.html">Ender's Game</a> by Orson Scott Card: Because it's <i>fantastic</i>, and also because, like this book, there's a child extensively trained for political reasons. And also aliens.</li>
<li><a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2013/08/travel-reading-part-4.html">Shards of Honor</a> and the rest of the Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold: Because Bujold also writes sociological scifi. The writing is quite different than Cherryh's in style and tone (at least this book), and there are no aliens, but they both explore the meaning of culture and humanity in one way or another.</li>
<li><a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2015/06/homeland.html">Homeland</a> by R. A. Salvatore: Because of the intense mentor/student relationship and badass fight training scenes. Salvatore is much more derivative than Cherryh, but I still enjoyed this book a fair bit.</li>
</ul>
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* My tastes seem to change periodically, and it doesn't seem as related to age as you'd think. For instance, the time when I most preferred difficult-to-read Classics was probably around age 13 or so. So when I say "outgrown", it may actually mean that I'll get back to YA once I'm, say, 40.<br />
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** I debated giving it 5 stars, but it didn't <i>quiiiiiite</i> give the feeling of impact that I feel like a 5 star book should have. (I may change my mind on this one, though...) Plus it looks like there are enough other awesome books by her that I'll get at least one 5 star from them, and I'll want the distinction between the 5 star and this one. (Sigh, rating is difficult, and I'm often not really satisfied with my ratings, but I can't quite get over the compulsion to order and arrange and categorize things.)</div>
REDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11119540412455106441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3722215513883191203.post-44254723397441778402016-07-29T08:47:00.002-07:002016-07-29T08:47:54.714-07:00These Beautiful Bonesby Emily Stimpson<br />
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<b><u>Why You Will Like This Book:</u></b><br />
<ul>
<li>It's a discussion of the profound Theology of the Body, but focusing on the neglected parts (i.e. the <i>non</i> sex parts).</li>
<li>She <i>gets</i> the beauty of simplicity, the earth, daily life, and all those Hobbit-ish things.</li>
<li>It's inspiring. It makes me want to pray well, eat well, exercise well, dress well, live well.</li>
</ul>
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<b><u>And Why You Might Not:</u></b></div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>I think it could turn off non-Christians and people who were less "Conservative" (see important note below*). It sometimes has that "the modern age is the most horrible age" point of view, which bothers me somewhat, though it's too complicated to get into why I think it's inaccurate.</li>
<li>I also didn't like it all that much when she <i>did</i> talk about sex and gender. I thought it lacked complexity of thought, and didn't go beyond stereotypes enough. Though again, it probably won't bother most Conservative Christians who are relatively normal (unlike me, apparently).</li>
</ul>
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Thoughts:</u> I read this book for a Book Club, which is a distinctly different experience than a normal read. Much more chapter by chapter than the book as a whole. And my notes for this one were more talking points than thinking points (the two are definitely different). So I'll simply summarize briefly my main praise and main criticism.<br />
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--Loved: Not much was new to me in this book, but it really put ideas that I've been particularly pondering over the last couple years in clear and inspiring words. I got so many ideas for improvement, for both myself and culture! Yay!<br />
And as Bilbo said, "It is no bad thing to celebrate the simple life."<br />
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--Didn't love: There is an idea that everything is worse in our time, from manners to clothes to gender roles to pretty much everything, and that's it all specifically because we're losing our Christian roots. Some of this is true, but I also think it can be inaccurate sometimes. I very much think it's true that there is a greater lack of the Theology of the Body in these times, and that we're fighting against the Culture of Death, but many of these issues are considerably more complicated than they're presented in this book. There seemed to be a lack of understanding of history and culture.<br />
Take manners. Can you really say that East Asia has worse manners than the West? And the East has never been Christian. This seems kind of nationalist** to say, but maybe it's an American thing? Her example of it being completely unnoteworthy to see drivers swearing loudly and lengthily at pedestrians is simply wrong in Canada, at least the places I've lived. And Canada is less Christian than the States! And personally, I don't particularly like some of the manners that are considered "essential" by some traditionally-minded people, specifically the gender oriented ones.<br />
Anyway, I have lots of thoughts on it, and they're more nuanced than my writing above might lead you to believe. But this is too complicated a topic to discuss properly on this blog, unfortunately.</div>
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Grade:</u> 4 stars</div>
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<b><u>If You Like This, You Might Also Like:</u></b></div>
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<ul>
<li><i>The Screwtape Letters</i> by C. S. Lewis: Because he more than anyone else gets how important daily life can be for one's sanctity. Also <i>The Great Divorce</i>. Stimpson quotes Lewis a number of times in TBB, so this should be indicative of some compatibility of thought.</li>
<li><a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/07/acedia-me.html">Acedia & me</a> by Katherine Norris: Because, although it has a very different tone and maybe <i>wouldn't</i> be liked much by the "Conservative" people I mentioned above, I think at it's heart, it gets at the same ideas. I think the growth of sloth and acedia and the lessening of proper Theology of the Body attitudes are closely linked. Certainly many of the ideas for improvement I got from A&m were very similar to those from TBB.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.ewtn.com/library/PAPALDOC/JP2TBIND.HTM">The Theology of the Body</a> by Pope St. John Paul II: Because, as we made note of in Book Club, there are a plethora of books <i>about</i> ToB that everybody reads, but nobody seems to read the actual ToB itself! Yes, it's complicated and dense, but reading the source material is always worth it.</li>
</ul>
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<div>
* I'm using "Conservative" here purposefully. I don't like the habit of dividing Catholics into Liberal and Conservative--mixes politics with doctrine too much, and allows us be judgmental far too easily. But in this case, I specifically mean conservative, and NOT traditional or orthodox or any such word.<br />
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** I don't think "nationalist" is the right word, but I'm running out of time to find the right one. What I mean is "to be against a particular nation". Like sexist or racist but for nations.</div>
REDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11119540412455106441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3722215513883191203.post-76777561964189345542016-07-25T06:45:00.001-07:002016-07-25T06:45:41.222-07:00The Keeper of the Mistby Rachel Neumeier<br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Story summary:</u> Summary from <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25739098-the-keeper-of-the-mist" target="_blank">Goodreads</a>:<br />
"Keri has been struggling to run her family bakery since her mother passed away. Now the father she barely knew—the Lord of Nimmira—has died, and ancient magic has decreed that she will take his place as the new Lady. The position has never been so dangerous: the mists that hide Nimmira from its vicious, land-hungry neighbors have failed, and Keri's people are visible to strangers for the first time since the mists were put in place generations ago. <br />
At the same time, three half-brothers with their own eyes on the crown make life within the House just as dangerous as the world outside. But Keri has three people to guide her: her mysterious Timekeeper, clever Bookkeeper, and steadfast Doorkeeper. Together they must find a way to repair the boundary before her neighbors realize just how vulnerable Nimmira is."<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOpeiGOXoJhNyKiP0vqqVFSkE_vVCOYsTtjIqN55pdW7Ut7zppcxYDKUuDdg5epCjuivHvrDxcSy_5lJTev89pxHY8jcYOSU3mG9q0JQ_hMiJ0OFEeUlLhpwsdHAzFQ4u4NJI2XFnJyvkp/s1600/Keeper+of+the+Mist.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 2em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOpeiGOXoJhNyKiP0vqqVFSkE_vVCOYsTtjIqN55pdW7Ut7zppcxYDKUuDdg5epCjuivHvrDxcSy_5lJTev89pxHY8jcYOSU3mG9q0JQ_hMiJ0OFEeUlLhpwsdHAzFQ4u4NJI2XFnJyvkp/s320/Keeper+of+the+Mist.jpg" width="212" /></a><br />
<b><u>Why You Will Like This Book:</u></b><br />
<ul>
<li>Cool magic system, of the "instinctive, inborn, just feel it" kind.</li>
<li>Relationships, of the family and friends sort, are important.</li>
</ul>
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<b><u>And Why You Might Not:</u></b></div>
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<ul>
<li>It was a little light. Definitely a Young Adult book.</li>
<li>In general, there just wasn't enough of the good stuff. I wanted it to go deeper.</li>
</ul>
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Thoughts:</u> This was a light, pleasant read that didn't quite go the way I was hoping. I liked everything about it, I just kept wishing it would go deeper. Perhaps I'm growing out of Young Adult books now, because it does seem like many of them are feeling like this these days. So don't judge this book because of my opinion here!<br />
<br />
But basically my problems were:<br />
<ul>
<li>I didn't grow at all attached to Cort, and since much of the plot revolved around him, this made a difference to my enjoyment. There were also hints that he was the future love interest, which I didn't really like. I got why the main character would like him, I guess, it's just that I didn't.</li>
<li>I really love family relationships. And indeed, the brothers and sister were some of my favourite parts of the book, but I still wanted more of them being awesome together as a family.</li>
<li>I also really like growing into leadership roles, and Keri was pretty good at this, but as with the family point above, I wanted more.</li>
</ul>
<br />
On the other hand:<br />
<ul>
<li>The magic system was interesting, as I mentioned above. I love when characters typify some abstract concept through their personality. The idea of the land itself choosing not only the ruler, but "The Doorkeeper", "The Bookkeeper", and "The Timekeeper", is cool.</li>
<li>Although I said above that there wasn't enough family stuff for my liking, there was <i>actually</i> a fair amount of family stuff. I don't want to sell it short. I liked her relationship with the middle brother especially.</li>
</ul>
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I want to try more Rachel Neumeier, but mostly just because I really love <a href="http://www.rachelneumeier.com/news/" target="_blank">her blog</a>, and the opinions and topics she talks about there. Based on this book, I'd recommend her to my younger sisters, but maybe not read more myself.</div>
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Grade:</u> 3 stars</div>
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<b><u>If You Like This, You Might Also Like:</u></b></div>
<div>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2015/07/the-goblin-emperor.html">The Goblin Emperor</a> by Katherine Addison: Because <i>this</i> is how you write a new ruler, uncomfortable with the weight of the crown, learning to step up and show some unexpected spine. Not YA, though, so quite different in tone.</li>
<li>You could also try Robin McKinley's books. She has more of a fairy tale feel to most of her books, but they remind me a little of this one. They sometimes have quieter, plainer, but strong heroines (strong in more a strength of character, stand for their principles, sense than any sort of physical strength). They tend to have a similar kind of magic. And... there's just something in the feel that reminds me a bit of this. So maybe try ... <i>Pegasus</i> or <i>Spindle's End</i>?</li>
</ul>
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REDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11119540412455106441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3722215513883191203.post-87844328833314801252016-07-19T06:56:00.000-07:002016-08-23T14:18:10.855-07:00And All the Starsby Andrea K. Höst<br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Story summary:</u> At first: survival under weird, mysterious circumstances! Then: friendship and The Three Musketeers! After that: plot twists and aliens!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQgsmnkWLEVIoHbdxvaaGspAr8zTW0B192IKuLi_w1mx1WE95jXC2VtqSVuzf3B9Ai-xsjDJtYO_EPFVcy1mmvAHwc-Tok90_bpt2eVvT0YZ1yRj4ezVnE328va1OzEIoHrh2wF2coCZoT/s1600/And+All+the+Stars.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 2em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQgsmnkWLEVIoHbdxvaaGspAr8zTW0B192IKuLi_w1mx1WE95jXC2VtqSVuzf3B9Ai-xsjDJtYO_EPFVcy1mmvAHwc-Tok90_bpt2eVvT0YZ1yRj4ezVnE328va1OzEIoHrh2wF2coCZoT/s320/And+All+the+Stars.jpg" width="207" /></a></div>
<b><u>Why You Will Like This Book:</u></b><br />
<ul>
<li>See all the exclamation points in the story summary?</li>
<li>It's very Australian!</li>
<li>At least one of the twists made me want to go back to the beginning and reread from there. (That's by far the best kind of twist.)</li>
</ul>
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<b><u>And Why You Might Not:</u></b></div>
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<ul>
<li>There <i>are</i> definitely reasons why you might not like this book, but as I discuss in my thoughts below, Höst's books confuse me somewhat. You'll have to read my thoughts to get a better idea, but my recommendation is to read one of her books yourself and figure it out.</li>
<li>For those concerned about sexual content in YA books, there is some here. Not a lot, mostly just one particular scene.</li>
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Thoughts:</u> I'm starting to get a feel for Höst now, to understand what to expect when I read her books. She likes lone girl survival (see also <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2013/07/travel-reading-part-2.html">Touchstone trilogy</a>). She likes surprise twists that change your whole perspective on the book so far, especially when these twists are to do with the romance (see the <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/03/the-silence-of-medair.html">Medair</a> <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/03/voice-of-lost.html">duology</a>, though I liked the twist both a lot more and less in that one...it's complicated...). She likes stoic male leads (see... every book I've read by her, I think). She often has one or two characters I <i>love</i>, but then the rest I almost like but end up not feeling connected to at all even if they seem like they should appeal to me.<br />
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In other words, she really is a strange mix of things for me. I always end up being slightly disappointed upon finishing a book by her, and yet quite eager to start the next book. She has the kind of book that I make sure to save up, because sometimes I need to read a book that I <i>know</i> will be enjoyable. She has the kind of characters that make me hope so much for a certain outcome in their development, and then being confused and discontented when it actually happens. But the fact that I <i>do</i> hope so strongly makes the reading experience worth it in the end.<br />
<br />
I don't have many thoughts on the book in particular besides this, but here are a few comments, at least (translate spoilers using <a href="http://www.rot13.com/">rot13</a>):<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>The description of the alien substance the protagonist comes across in the beginning was lovely. There is nothing that gets to me (in a good way) quite so much as stars.</li>
<li>Pan was my favourite for quite a while. That discussion Madeleine had with him in the middle about his relationships was great. But he turned into one of the ideal examples of her characters that I feel like I should love, but don't for inexplicable reasons. I'm going to have to keep reading her books and pay special attention to how she develops her characters. I think maybe he didn't feel like his development deserved his epicness in the second half of the book?</li>
<li>Spoilers for both the <i>Medair</i> dulogy and this book: Gur ebznapr jnf n jrveq zvk, zhpu yvxr Zrqnve. Ohg va Zrqnve V npghnyyl ernyyl, ernyyl yvxrq bar bs gur ybir vagrerfgf (Xrve Vrfxne), juvpu znqr vg gung zhpu zber fngvfslvat jura ur ghearq bhg gb or bar, ohg gung zhpu zber qvfnccbvagvat gung ur jnfa'g gur cevznel bar. Urer V qvqa'g yvxr rvgure nf zhpu, nygubhtu gur nyvra unq terng cbgragvny. Ohg V arire sryg yvxr lbh tbg gb xabj uvf uhzna irefvba ng nyy, fb vg sryg gb zr yvxr gung ebznapr whfg pnzr bhg bs guva nve jvgubhg rabhtu onfvf. V qhaab... V pbhyq qb zber nanylmvat, ohg yrg'f yrnir vg jvgu gur snpg gung V gubhtug vg jnf jrveq naq hanccrnyvat.</li>
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Cover note: it is both quite nice and actually totally true to the story. Surprisingly uncommon, that.</div>
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Grade:</u> 3 1/2 stars</div>
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<b><u>If You Like This, You Might Also Like:</u></b></div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>K, this recommendation is spoilery. Translate the coded part with <a href="http://www.rot13.com/">rot13</a>, but only if you've read <i>And All the Stars</i>! Seriously! Ok, here goes: <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2015/10/tin-star.html">Tin Star</a> by Cecil Castellucci: Mostly just because of gur fyvtugyl fhecevfvat nyvra/uhzna ebznapr. But also (for a non-spoiler element) because the beginning of both books start with a girl trying to survive alone in a hostile, scifi environment.</li>
<li><a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.com/2011/05/singing-dogstar-blue.html">Singing the Dogstar Blues</a> by Alison Goodman: Because it's also Australian and there are aliens and (slight spoiler for AAtS): vg unf n fgebat sbphf ba gur eryngvbafuvc orgjrra n uhzna naq nyvra (gubhtu abg ebznagvp guvf gvzr).</li>
<li>The only other recommendations I can think of right now are the standard teens-group-together-to-fight-the-apocalypse stories, like <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2014/04/the-maze-runner.html">The Maze Runner</a> by James Dashner and <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2011/06/gone.html">Gone</a> by Michael Grant and the <i>Buffy</i> TV series. The <i>LOST</i> TV series would also fit well with its mysterious happenings and group effort. I'm not satisfied with any of these recs, because they have a fairly different feel than this book, but it's the best I can do at the moment.</li>
</ul>
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REDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11119540412455106441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3722215513883191203.post-89311200426384519022016-07-17T12:09:00.001-07:002016-07-17T12:09:29.263-07:00Who Could That Be at This Hour?by Lemony Snicket<br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Story summary:</u> What happened to his parents? Where is that screaming coming from? Is it too late? This book contains these and other wrong questions.*<br />
First in the "All the Wrong Questions" series: the story of a young Lemony Snicket and his apprenticeship in a secret society.<br />
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<b><u>Why You Will Like This Book:</u></b><br />
<ul>
<li>Puzzling</li>
<li>Clever</li>
<li>Meta</li>
</ul>
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<b><u>And Why You Might Not:</u></b></div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Full of bleak, unpleasant people in a bleak, unpleasant town.</li>
<li>It's strange. A little too strange for me.</li>
</ul>
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Thoughts:</u> I hadn't been planning to read this book. <i>A Series of Unfortunate Events</i> was amusing and clever, but I'd had my fill. However, someone somewhere said the later books in this series got quite good, and then I found a really fun <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sd5XGyFURsY&feature=youtu.be" target="_blank">Youtube story game</a>, and I couldn't really pass this book by any longer.<br />
<br />
This first in the series was not really my style. I love Snicket's meta-ness and puzzles, but they are not that apparent here, and I find his bleakness and strangeness creepy <i>and</i> boring. Hopefully it is accurate that the later books get quite good. I'm planning to continue the series mostly for that reason alone.</div>
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Grade:</u> 2 1/2 stars (2 stars for the book, and an extra 1/2 star for the cover and title and author descriptions and marketing and general style and all that stuff that Snicket is <i>really</i> good at)</div>
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<b><u>If You Like This, You Might Also Like:</u></b></div>
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<ul>
<li><i>The Mysterious Benedict Society</i> by Trenton Lee Stewart: Because there are puzzles and it's clever, but it's also a lot happier than Snicket's books.</li>
<li><i>The Wolves of Willoughby Chase</i> by Joan Aiken: I haven't read this in a while, but I remember liking it a lot when I was young, even though it has similarly bleak people and places.</li>
<li>Roald Dahl might also be a good recomendation, though I'm not sure if I've actually read any of his books. Maybe <i>James and the Giant Peach</i> a long time ago?</li>
</ul>
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* Taken from the dust jacket.</div>
REDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11119540412455106441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3722215513883191203.post-38486252085770777142016-07-15T07:21:00.001-07:002016-07-15T07:21:55.919-07:00Acedia & meby Kathleen Norris<br />
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<b><u>Why You Will Like This Book:</u></b><br />
<ul>
<li>It's about what I believe is one of the primary sins of our age: sloth (in all its forms).</li>
<li>There are so many fascinating points to ponder, scattered throughout the book. And so many differing points of view on this one, ever pervasive issue.</li>
</ul>
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<b><u>And Why You Might Not:</u></b></div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>I found it a little meandering sometimes. It was just the style, and this is not a criticism per se, but sometimes I prefer books which state their point a little clearer, without circling.</li>
<li>For Catholics, there are a couple of weird points theologically speaking, but these are few and far between, so I wouldn't worry overmuch</li>
</ul>
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Thoughts:</u> The illuminating and ponder-worthy points were all over the place. From historical references to modern poetry to intimate autobiography, Norris gave a broad and nuanced view of a single sin. My scribbled notes of things that caught my attention was a very long list indeed (I listed many below, but not even all of them, since there were too many).<br />
<br />
Upon finishing the book, however, I realized I did have a main problem with it, though it was difficult to pin down. I think I found it too diffuse and unclear. I used the words "meandering" and "circling" in the bullet points above. I'm not sure I liked the book as a whole, if that makes sense. Some things I really just wanted stated clearly and precisely.<br />
<br />
Because of this issue, and because of my bad writing skills, I don't have the ability to coalesce all my various thoughts into a nice, coherent review. So I'm just going to list everything I made note of while reading--feel free to skip them. They're mostly just for my own remembrance anyway.<br />
<ul>
<li>The story on page 1 about the monk who would make baskets all year and then burn them at the end of the year reminds me of my darling sister-in-law, who will crochet all night and then unravel it because she has a different idea. This causes her no fretfulness or anxiety--it's joy of crocheting she loves, not the end product.</li>
<li>"I felt a weight life from my soul, for I had just discovered an accurate description of something that had plagued me for years but that I had never been able to name. As any reader of fairy tales can tell you, not knowing the true name of your enemy [...] puts you at a great disadvantage, and learning the name can help to set you free." (Page 4.)</li>
<li>Page 5: The routine of monasticism mirrors the changelessness of eternity. This isn't exactly comforting...</li>
<li>On page 6, there was a quote from Henri Nouwen saying the words "pray always" means "come to rest". Nouwen is such a fascinating writer--a new discovery for me this year. Thinking about his sayings like this always bring such fruitful ideas to me. It's cool.</li>
<li>This is a long quote, but it's <i>exactly</i> what I go through frequently, except with the computer and internet instead of books (I've always been good when it comes to books): "I've been working too long and need a break; maybe I should read a mystery novel to clear my head. I tell myself that I'm too weary to concentrate. I tell myself that it is a matter of respecting my limitations, and of being good to myself. If I manage to read one book, and then return to my other obligations, no harm done. But often, one book does not satisfy me. My 'rest' has only made me more restless, and as I finish one book, I am tempted to pick up another. If I don't check myself, I can slip into a state both anxious and lethargic, in which I trudge through four or five paperbacks a day, for three or four days running. I am consuming books rather than reading them. [...] Morbidly conscious of the time I am wasting, I race feverishly through a book so preposterous and badly written that it nauseates me. If I pick up a more serious book, something that might bring me to my senses, I am likely to plow through it as thoughtlessly as if it were a genre thriller." (Pg. 15-6)</li>
<li>"[E]ven if what we do seems worthless, it is worth doing." (pg. 19) Repetition can be worth it for its own sake. This thought gives new purpose to regular activities that seem so pointless sometimes otherwise.</li>
<li>"Until the early thirteenth century, acedia was seen as exclusively a monastic vice, caused by the rigors of an ascetic life. As the concept was applied to laypeople, it lost much of its religious import. It came to mean physical as well as spiritual laziness, and to combat it meant embracing what is now both extolled and disparaged as the Protestant work ethic." (pg. 21-2) Yes! I have seen this! This is accurate!</li>
<li>There is much talk about depression vs. acedia, and when it is one instead of the other. It can be a difficult but important thing to discern, since treating them require different methods. A scholar Norris quotes summarizes Thomas Aquinas's views thus: "For despair, participation in the divine nature through grace is perceived as appealing, but impossible; for acedia, the prospect is possible, but unappealing." (pg. 24) It's something I'm going to have to think about more, because even after reading all her thoughts, I'm still not clear. I suppose it's one of those messy human things that needs discernment and direction and doesn't have a pat answer...</li>
<li>"To 'find ourselves,' all we need is an open road. But soon we discover that no place will satisfy us, and no one person, no group of friends, can meet our needs. The oppressive boredom we had hoped to escape is lodged firmly within us." (pg. 25-6) Yeah.... This one I've felt.</li>
<li>On the bottom of page 27, there is an interesting take on lust: "[T]he danger is that I will use others as an excuse to avoid confronting matters that require my full attention. Evagrius defines this temptation as lust, the desire to draw others to ourselves for selfish purposes." I had never connected sloth and lust very much before, except that both are "fleshy" sins. This comparison really interested me.</li>
<li>There are a few places where you can tell she doesn't quite have the Catholic perspective: "[M]onks such as Evagrius were free of the heavy baggage of Western Christendom's concept of sin. What the Church later defined as sin, desert monks termed 'bad thoughts', which to my mind is a much more helpful designation. Given the history of the Church's emphasis on sins of the flesh, contemporary readers may find it odd that the early monks regarded lust as one of the lesser temptations." (Pg. 29-30) It's <i>still</i> considered one of the lesser temptations, and anyone who has been properly education in the teachings of the Church knows that lust is talked about so much only because it's so common, not because it's worse than other grave sins. She also doesn't seem to understand that the deadly sin of sloth is actually very similar to acedia. She seems to think that the Church thinks of it in the same way as modern culture (i.e. basically just simple laziness), but that's inaccurate. (I forget where she talks about this, so I can't quote her.)</li>
<li>"F. Scott Fitzgerald speaks of boredom as not 'an end product' but an important and necessary 'stage in life and art,' acting like a filter that allows 'the clear product [to emerge].'" (pg. 41) I have definitely observed this myself. It's often the combination of boredom and necessity that produces the best writing from me. Also from Bertrand Russell on the same page: "a generation that cannot endure boredom will be a generation of little men ... unduly divorced from the slow processes of nature, in whom every vital impulse withers."</li>
<li>"The operation of the Church is entirely set up for the sinner, which creates much misunderstanding among the smug." Flannery O'Connor. (pg. 54)</li>
<li>Page 139: "These monks were also well aware that in order to give up the instinctive impulse toward self-justification, a person needed a healthy self-regard in the first place. This is a subtle point, yet a critical one. The advice to blame oneself assumes, a scholar has written, that a person is already 'anchored in [an] essential disposition which puts [one] at peace with God.'" I really like this, because I've been trying recently to reconcile the fact that I feel the need to compliment many of my friends that seem to need it, but on the other hand don't particularly want people to compliment me because it really doesn't help in my struggle with pride.</li>
<li>Advice very applicable to me on page 144: "[O]ften the tasks I don't particularly want turn out to be the ones I most need to perform. One test to determine whether I am receiving a call from God or from my ego is to ask whether this is something I would rather not do, or feel incapable of doing well. If either is the case, my best course may be to set my feelings aside and try to do the job."</li>
<li>Fascinating rumination on the meaning of humility on page 169: "While today the word <i>humility</i> may connote a placid servility in the face of mistreatment, its Latin origins suggest strength and fertility. The words comes from <i>humus</i>, as in 'earth'. A humble person is one who accepts the paradox of being both 'great and small' and does not discount that hope which Kierkegaard terms 'possibility'."</li>
<li>"Whatever you do repeatedly has the power to shape you, has the power to make you over into a different person--even if you're not totally 'engaged' in every minute." (pg. 188) She goes on to mention "insincere kisses" and "prayers made with a yawn" are still important. Simply the repetition of them changes you. And I think it's an important thing to remember in our time, that "anything worth doing is worth doing badly" (Chesterton).</li>
<li>Page 190: "No less a saint than Therese of Lisieux admitted in her <i>Story of a Soul</i> that Christ was most abundantly present to her not 'during my hours of prayer...but rather in the midst of my <i>daily</i> occupations' (emphasis mine)."</li>
<li>Some cool stuff about how the different atmospheres of the different times of day reflect in our prayers: "At dawn, lauds reminds us of our need to renew, remember, and recommit our lives to their proper purpose. [...] Noon prayer is a time to briefly rest from our labors, and take stock as we prepare for the demands of the afternoon. As sunset approaches, vespers is a surrendering of contention, a willingness to surrender the day, and let God bring on the quiet, brooding darkness in which dreams will wrestle with and nurture our souls. Every night compline invites us to e like the farmer of the Gospel parable, to admit to the limitations of our consciousness, and submit to the realm of God: 'The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how' (Mark 4:26-27)." (Pg. 193)</li>
<li>"When the Dalai Lama was asked for advice about how people could improve their spiritual lives, he laughed and said that it was obvious: Eat less, don't stay up so late, and sleep more." (pg. 193-4) Obviously there's more to it than that. You could eat and sleep properly and still be an evil person. But the point is a good one, especially for people like me who tend to forget that we are soul <i>and</i> body.</li>
<li>"[M]onks have always insisted that each hour of the day and night has its own distinct message for us." (pg. 194) YES! This is a really cool thing I've just discovered myself recently.</li>
<li>On page 195, there is an idea discussed about turning work into play, the way young children will continue doing repetitive tasks over and over with great joy. I really like that idea. And it does seem like most work can have the attitude of play, if you know how to do it.</li>
<li>"There is a good psychological basis for the impulse, borne out in many of the world's religions, to pray at the hinges of time, at morning, noon, and night, when we might be most open to God but are also susceptible to acedia and its attendant despairs. The psalmist asks us to place our hope in a God who will not grow weary of watching over us at these risky moments, who will 'guard [our] going and coming / both now and forever' (Psalms 121:8)." (pg. 218-9) I really like this imagery of the "hinges of time"--it gives a rational <i>reason</i> for the traditional times of prayer, and make it feel more like a spiritual battle, rather than just following tradition for its own sake.</li>
<li>"Waiting, then, is not passive but a vigilant and watchful activity designed to keep us aware of what is really going on. Isaiah evokes this radical waiting as a wource of vitality: 'Those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, / they shall mount up with wings like eagles' (Isaiah 40:31)." (Pg. 220-1)</li>
<li>It was really sad to hear of the author's husband's experiences with and subsequent leaving of the Catholic Church after Vatican II (page 238). She talks about his dislike for the new schmaltzy hymn tunes (some lifted from Broadway musicals), and bad translations. What I found interesting was his indignation about the gender bias in the English translation where apparently none existed in the Latin. I know traditional-type people seem to think the gender-biased language of English is the older, and thus better, version, but this seems to cast that into doubt.</li>
<li>"'[God] permitted my soul to be swamped by the thickest darkness,' Therese wrote, 'so that the thought of heaven which had been so sweet to me became nothing but a subject of bitterness and torment.' [My husband] greatly admired her determination to regard this experience as a grace, a gift from God that enabled her to identify more fully with unbelievers." (Pg. 241) This is how I was inclined to view some of my own struggles, as an opportunity to identify with unbelievers, but was worried this was a wrong way of going about things. So a bit of saintly validation was nice.</li>
<li>"Gergory of Nyssa recommends [the Lord's Prayer] as a way to 'remember that the life in which we ought to be interested is 'daily' life. We can, each of us, only call the present time our own... Our Lord tells us to pray for today, and so he prevents us from tormenting ourselves about tomorrow." (Pg. 260)</li>
<li>"[P]ersevering in a spiritual discipline, especially when it seems futile, is the key to growth... When 'one is completely listless, tepid, and unhappy, and feels separated from our Creator and Lord,' [Ignatius] writes in his <i>Spiritual Exercises</i>, 'one should never make a change." (Pg. 261-2) I'd heard this before reading books on spiritual formation, but it's always useful for me to hear again.</li>
<li>On page 265, it mentions that acedia is often has a precursor of a "spirit of sadness". I totally understand what this mean, having experienced it multiple times. It "can arise suddenly, and with no apparent cause, making us irritable and intolerant even of those who are dearest to us".</li>
<li>And more on sadness: "While we are tempted to 'think sadness is a mood, an emotion," [John Cassian] told [a group of monastic novices], in truth it is 'a passion which easily leads to sin.' Merton's admonition that '<i>the causes of our sadness are not to be sought...in other people, but in ourselves</i>' is an essential for surviving in the rock tumblr of relationship." And more: "'<i>It takes real courage</i>,' Merton insists, '<i>to recognize that we ourselves are the cause of our own unhappiness</i>.' The trick is to maintain a nuanced view as we attempt to discern what trouble we have caused and are responsible for, and what is truly beyond our control." (Pg. 273)</li>
<li>On page 282-3, she talks about how lowering standards can help deal with acedia. There was this monk, Joseph Hazzaya, who lost the ability to pray, but instead of giving up, decided to only recite Psalm 117 (the psalm with only two verses) for each hour of the liturgical office. The poet William Stafford claimed never to have experienced writer's block, because whenever he started to, he lowered his standards instead. These both sound like great ideas to me, except that they seem to contradict what Ignatius was quoted to say above (on pg. 261-2) about never making a change when feeling listless, tepid, or unhappy. I'm sure there's a way to reconcile these two ideas, but I haven't figured it out yet. (<i>Very</i> useful idea for writer's block though. Got to remember it and try it out.)</li>
<li>Page 297 quotes Wordsworth (1770 - 1850) complaining about how his modern era was "[blunting] the discriminating powers of the mind and unfitting it for all voluntary exertion to reduce it to a state of almost savage torpor". This is a great example of how people have been saying all throughout history that their modern era was the worst, and that everybody was becoming stupid now, and that critical thought was at its lowest point. It seems especially common among the type of traditional Catholics I belong to, and it annoys me.</li>
<li>"You think you are simply resting, the better to act when the time comes, or for no reason, and you soon find yourself powerless ever to do anything again." Samuel Beckett, quoted on page 309. I know this feeling so well. Sitting on the couch and doing nothing does not actually make one as productive as one thinks it will.</li>
<li>"Sameness is both the most beautiful and repulsive thing that exists. The most beautiful if it reflects eternity. The ugliest if it is a sign of something endless and unchangeable. Conquered time or infertile time. The symbol of beautiful sameness is the circle. The symbol of cruel sameness is the ticking of a pendulum." From Simone Weil's "The Power of Words", quoted on page 312. I think this sums up all the ideas presented here, really. It's a great quote.</li>
<li>"[T]he specter of something as small as an unanswered letter arouses such disproportionate guilt that answering it becomes out of the question." From Joan Didion's <i>Slouching Towards Bethlehem</i>, quoted on page 321. This is completely relevant to me, and happens frequently. I hate it.</li>
<li>"In general, a man shooting heroin into his veins does so largely for the same reason you buy a video: to dodge the redundancy of time." From Joseph Brodsky's "In Praise of Boredom", quoted on page 323. Although I haven't used heroin, I can very much see how this would be true, and an improper response to my boredom has been the cause of many failings in me.</li>
<li>The quote from Jean Bethke Eishtain on page 323 calls sloth a form of "practical atheism", which is a brilliant and true idea, I think. And definitely very applicable to my life.</li>
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So yeah. There they are, a billion different random things that occurred to me. If you got this far, which I doubt, I apologize for my lack of summation abilities. You should just go read it yourself, and then you won't have to rely on my bad writing.</div>
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Grade:</u> 3 1/2 stars</div>
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<b><u>If You Like This, You Might Also Like:</u></b></div>
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<ul>
<li><i>The Screwtape Letters</i> by C.S. Lewis: Because Lewis really gets at some of the common but little realized human qualities that cause issues such as acedia and sloth. <i>The Great Divorce</i> might be another good option by him.</li>
<li><i>These Beautiful Bones</i> by Emily Stimpson: Because it's all about the parts of the Theology of the Body that are not frequently talked about, i.e. the parts <i>not</i> about sex. And I think this Theology of the Body is of special importance for those suffering from acedia. Stimpson is a very different writer than Kathleen Norris, so I'm definitely recommending it based on complementary ideas rather than any similarity in style or thought process. (Actually, the same goes for the Lewis mentioned above.)</li>
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REDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11119540412455106441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3722215513883191203.post-12776743096976680972016-07-12T10:20:00.000-07:002016-07-12T10:20:53.650-07:00Viciousby V. E. Schwab<br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Story summary:</u> A tale of dark superheroes and broken friendship, of great intelligence and great arrogance and great temptations.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQkz-s2ieF9EAABq0MsSgqESzG-xmvR1Au-SuGXuD-fHnlq02YDUoMPJ9GUCEpTBUXeoQrFmCdmtofYjFvOjv-5g4w5HV6dqKAdT1tyNXc2foGnzSvAaEFHJDuuZSNoRpU88lgKEentpe5/s1600/Vicious.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 2em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQkz-s2ieF9EAABq0MsSgqESzG-xmvR1Au-SuGXuD-fHnlq02YDUoMPJ9GUCEpTBUXeoQrFmCdmtofYjFvOjv-5g4w5HV6dqKAdT1tyNXc2foGnzSvAaEFHJDuuZSNoRpU88lgKEentpe5/s320/Vicious.jpg" width="214" /></a></div>
<b><u>Why You Will Like This Book:</u></b><br />
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<li>Intense relationships</li>
<li>Grittiness</li>
<li>Brilliantly intelligent people</li>
<li>Atmosphere</li>
<li>A lovely cover.</li>
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<b><u>And Why You Might Not:</u></b></div>
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<li>It can get pretty dark and bloody.</li>
<li>The protagonist is a definitive antihero (my cup of tea, but not everyone's)</li>
<li>Some of the several point-of-view characters aren't used to their full potential.</li>
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Thoughts:</u> I love books about enemies becoming friends and friends becoming enemies and all those relationships that are intense and strong no matter what specific feeling is involved. I also love reading about arrogant, brilliant people who experiment with Science. I love superheros. And finally, I love twists on old tropes, and seeing a common story from a different perspective. So I've been looking forward to reading this book ever since I first heard of it.<br />
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And indeed, all these elements were very enjoyable. I very much liked this book.<br />
Yet... somehow I found it missing the impact I thought it would have. It's distinctly possible that it's my fault--there have actually been quite a few books recently with this problem, and I know that mood and stress and all kinds of other things can affect my enjoyment. But I'd still like to figure out which aspects didn't impress me, for whatever particular reason. So here goes:<br />
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I'm thinking the fault may be with the "Present" part of the book. The book goes back and forth between different times in the characters' lives, and the part taking place in the present day is darker in a more urban noir-ish sense. So maybe the cause is simply that I like reading about arrogant boys experimenting with weird science waaaay better than mobster killing noir stories? Though I could see another possible cause for dislike in the lack of character development for everyone who is not Victor or Eli, the two main characters. Well, maybe "lack of character development" isn't quite the right phrase... I'm not exactly sure what the problem was, but I just found that Sydney and Mitch especially didn't grip me <i>nearly</i> as much as I expected to. They are both the kind of characters I should love, and the point-of-view characters as well! Perhaps it would have made more sense to lessen the number of view-points. Stick with Eli and Victor, with maybe a bit of Mitch to see Victor from a stranger's perspective.<br />
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But I want to try more V. E. Schwab, for sure. <i>A Darker Shade of Magic</i> looks pretty darn cool.<br />
(I might not actually read the sequel to this book, however. It was a complete enough story by itself, and I have too many other amazing books to read. I have been learning recently that life short and I will <i>never</i> read all the books I want to read. So prioritizing is important.)<br />
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Now a quick note on Eli's Christianity, since I find it interesting to compare to the recently reviewed <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/06/a-certain-slant-of-light.html">A Certain Slant of Light</a>. Eli's Christianity <i>was</i> a bit annoying, but only because he ended up (but didn't start out) being one of those "spouting Scripture while killing people" villains. They are such a cliche, and has anyone like that ever actually existed? Maybe that type of thing happens more in America or something, but here it seems like, even if you're going to do evil in the name of Christianity, you won't do it while spouting Scripture passages left and right.<br />
<i>But</i>, other than that, I didn't really have a problem with it. It felt a lot better than <i>A Certain Slant</i>. For one thing, it wasn't a whole group of people who were ALL bad, it was a single individual. It also didn't seem to portray Eli's Christianity as a cause for his evilness, while the group in <i>A Certain Slant</i> seemed judgmental and horrible <i>because</i> they were Christians. And finally, having an atheistic protagonist who was also pretty evil seemed to make it more about the interesting dynamic between them and their faiths, rather than pointing a finger at the evils of religion.</div>
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And a final note: the cover! Not only is it a representation of a great scene from the book, but the character looks right and it gives a feeling for the atmosphere of the book very well. Plus it's just beautiful to look at. I really love my paperback version of this book--it looks <i>and</i> feels so, so lovely.</div>
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Grade:</u> 4 stars</div>
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<b><u>If You Like This, You Might Also Like:</u></b></div>
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<ul>
<li><a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2015/09/steelheart.html">Steelheart</a> by Brandon Sanderson: Because becoming a superhero does something to the soul and it is nearly impossible to be Good.</li>
<li><a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2012/01/broken.html">Broken</a> by Susan Jane Bigelow (and <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2012/05/fly-into-fire.html">its</a> <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2013/07/travel-reading-part-1.html#spark">sequels</a>): Because it's yet another darker take on superheros. In fact, it's probably darker than <i>Steelheart</i> because it's more adult and less movie-like, like <i>Vicious</i>.</li>
<li>Now I'm trying to think of "friends become enemies" or brotherly rivalry books, but it's proving difficult. <i>Jacob Have I Loved</i>, maybe? I don't remember it well, and I didn't like it all that much, but it still made an impression and it's a classic. And there's always the great "X-Men: First Class" movie, with Charles Xavier and Magneto, but that's a movie and I haven't read the comics. Gah, this is too hard. If something comes to mind later, I'll edit this and add it.</li>
</ul>
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REDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11119540412455106441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3722215513883191203.post-8474486857390195762016-06-26T08:52:00.000-07:002016-06-26T08:52:32.642-07:00A Certain Slant of Lightby Laura Whitcomb<br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Story summary:</u> Ghosts fall in love, relationships break and relationships heal, people struggle with death and abuse and Sad Things, the physical world is discovered to be glorious.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc8aoV8fwQWZ5RVMknJATcKzfkO6IXqOaMEO-DLmnxhClWTJGWFBPJ6xdHxVpcjz7AwweCedI8J9dvYNHzVPzF-aQLpAjhTjb3qA6EEUmryTRyX_QBvGjeCA_k-5NOO4bA4XC_CcR2qEKO/s1600/A+Certain+Slant+of+Light.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 2em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc8aoV8fwQWZ5RVMknJATcKzfkO6IXqOaMEO-DLmnxhClWTJGWFBPJ6xdHxVpcjz7AwweCedI8J9dvYNHzVPzF-aQLpAjhTjb3qA6EEUmryTRyX_QBvGjeCA_k-5NOO4bA4XC_CcR2qEKO/s320/A+Certain+Slant+of+Light.jpg" width="197" /></a><b><u>Why You Will Like This Book:</u></b><br />
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<li>People overcoming issues! I love books like this, that give hope and show <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/17764-fairy-tales-are-more-than-true-not-because-they-tell" target="_blank">dragons can be beaten</a>.</li>
<li>The visual descriptions! I'm not really one for visual descriptions, but these struck me as quite inspiring.</li>
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<b><u>And Why You Might Not:</u></b></div>
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<li>There is definite sexual content. I think it makes sense given the context and type of story it is, but it deserves a warning.</li>
<li>The practicing Christians are all portrayed in a negative light.</li>
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Thoughts:</u> I keep saying that YA Contemporary isn't my genre, but I seem to keep reading them... (it's my third this year so far). But in this case, it was praised by <a href="http://www.rachelneumeier.com/news/" target="_blank">Rachel Neumeier</a>, whose blog I recently started reading and loving. She's recommended enough authors that were already favourites and seems to think enough like me, that I couldn't pass this up. And although for me it didn't live up to her praise, it was certainly an entertaining and interesting book, and I'm glad I read it.<br />
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My favourite aspect was how it fit into a recent theme of my life: how important the body actually is. It fits right in with my Theology of the Body book club study, and with many, many recent realizations I've had. So I loved when Helen first got a body. The glorying in physicality, in all the beautiful details of creation--it made me happy.<br />
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I also loved the character development. I was talking recently in the <a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/05/kingdom-of-summer.html">Kingdom of Summer</a> review about what makes me cry, and this is the opposite (and definitely didn't make me cry). Issues are overcome! Subtle ways to improve relationships are not missed or ignored! People gain hope even in oppressive situations!* The Billy & Mitch relationship was my favourite, but I was very happy with the potential romantic relationship between Billy and Jenny. Although the book seems mostly complete on its own, so I'm not interested in reading the sequel, I may skim through it purely for the Bill/Jenny parts.<br />
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There were some negatives, though. The biggest one was the portrayal of Christians, who were all stuffy, unkind people at best. At worst there were hints of things much, much worse. Now obviously there <i>are</i> Christian communities like this, so it's not untrue to life. And the main character herself believed in God. And one of the Christians was a character who overcame some issues, so was also slightly sympathetic.<br />
But still. It's just so <i>rare</i> outside of the "Christian" genre to find positive portrayals, to find characters like the people I know, with definitive faults but kindness and intelligence as well. It would have been nice to have at least <i>one</i> of the group whose Faith makes them more of a normal, loving person rather than less.<br />
(It's because of this, by the way, that I agree with people who want to see more representations of people of colour, people with disabilities, and other minority groups in fiction. I don't think you can ever demand it of a single book or author. In real life groups exist without a particular minority in them, just as groups of nasty and bigoted Christians exist. But the cumulative effect of book after movie after TV show with no or unpleasant representations is not only tiresome to one who belongs to that group, but unrealistic as well.)</div>
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Grade:</u> 3 stars</div>
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">If You Like This, You Might Also Like:</u></div>
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<li><a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/03/the-woman-in-wall.html">The Woman in the Wall</a> by Patrice Kindl: Because it also features a woman who cannot be seen and who falls in love with someone because they actually notice her presence. It's for a younger age than this one, and is much stranger, but the two books reminded me a bit of each other.</li>
<li><a href="http://redbookreviews.blogspot.ca/2015/06/the-uninvited-guests.html">The Uninvited Guests</a> by Sadie Jones: Ok, this is a bit of a weird rec because they are very little alike. But they both have ghosts! I only read so many books with ghosts in them, so the comparison strikes me. Plus there's something about the colour scheme of the cover and the number of pages... They physically remind me of each other, and for a book that's so much about physicality, I think this is a legitimate reason.</li>
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* This sounds a bit like I don't like the books that make me cry, but I DO. Man, it's so hard to explain the difference, though, and analyze how my emotions work. Emotions are weird, cloudy things that are hard to figure out and verbalize.</div>
REDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11119540412455106441noreply@blogger.com0